"There were times when David Souter thought of Bush v. Gore and wept."

[mb7588a]

Quote from The Nine, by Jeffrey Toobin.

Hats off to a fine American, Justice David Souter. May we all have the courage to stick it to the Bush crime family as you did, so many many times.


:toast: :beer: :toast:

[madaboutharry]

1. David Souter is indeed a fine American.

He was a true protector of The Constitution.

[zagging]

2. Now THAT's disinterested jurisprudence

In your opinion...or...whatever.

[Bluebear]

6. huh?

[Lex]

7. He has high standards and wept for how Bush v Gore tainted the integrity

of the US Supreme Court. I imagine he was highly interested in the integrity of the Court.

[nichomachus]

16. Disinterested is not uninterested

Welcome to DU -- enjoy your stay -- and work on your vocabulary.

[zagging]

33. My vocabulary was correct.

I found the implication of the OP's offensive.

There is a difference between sticking it to reprobate and applying a law to a circumstance. The implication was that Souter preferred the prior, which would preclude disinterest. Bush may have had it stuck to him, but only as a consequence of the law's application, not the implied stickingtoitiveness...or whatever.

I prefer my justices disinterested.

[blueclown]

19. I'd imagine he would be pretty interested in maintaining the integrity of the court.

You might want to check out Free Republic. It might be a better place for you.

[me b zola]

29. Well, I imagine that a front row seat to a coup

should have an strong emotional impact on any person who believes in the rule of law.

Crawl back under your rock.

[tularetom]

3. "Wept"? WTF?

Perhaps the court wasn't the right place for Mr. Justice Souter.

He obviously was never very happy there.

So God bless him for waiting until now to depart.

Maybe he can now do something more than weep about that clusterfuck. Like write a book and expose the five pieces of crap that fucked up this country for 8 years.

[jobycom]

4. Uninformed

Souter tried to sway Kennedy on that decision, and felt like he had almost succeeded before they ran out of time. Afterwards, he spoke out frequently against the decision, claiming it was a politically motivated decision and leaving no doubt on where he stood. He refused to have anything to do with the five who voted with the majority in Bush v Gore. He started to resign in protest after the decision, but was eventually persuaded that doing so would allow Bush--the person Souter considered illegally appointed to the presidency--to replace him.

Souter supposedly wept, and tried to resign, not because he hated the outcome of the decision, but because he knew it was a political decision that had tainted the judicial integrity of the Court. Souter himself was a conservative when he was appointed. He was opposed to abortion, and was seen as a sure-fire anti-abortion vote. However, when the issue came before him, he rule in favor of choice, stating that political pressure from outside shouldn't affect the judicial rulings of legal cases.

He was a strong leader, and held the integrity of the SCOTUS as his highest motivation, time after time. He felt as though the others on the Court had betrayed him and the Court and their country, and that's why he wept.

We're going to miss him when he's gone. Not just liberals, but all of America. He's what a Justice should be.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Nice post

Thanks for the clarification.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

17. Great post

People here are often too hung up appointing what they consider a "liberal" to rubber stamp their opinion to every case. Souter shows that what you really need is a clear and thoughtful interpreter of the law, unswayed by the political pressure of who gave him his job. Maybe he didn't vote the way I thought he should have on every case, but at least I knew he was guided by what he felt was truly correct.

[TuxedoKat]

18. Yes

This is exactly how I read the situation too. Thanks for posting this. Wish all the justices were as principled as Souter.

[DCKit]

22. "Wish all the justices were as principled as Souter."

This would be a very different country if that were so.

Thanks, now I'm crying - what could've been.

[aquart]

23. An honest and honorable man.

[fishwax]

27. well said n/t

[JitterbugPerfume]

32. Thanks jobycom

that is very touching and bittersweet

[HowHasItComeToThis]

15. BINGO FOR YOU

[Senator]

5. K&R

[Forkboy]

8. Join the club.

[tblue37]

10. I suspect that Sandra Day O'Connor eventually ended up weeping, too, although she helped

rig the vote for Bush. After she saw how crazy, criminal, and unconstitutional the CheneyBush administration was, she went around the coutnry giving speeches against their undermining of the Constituion, hoping, I suppose, to wipe some of the filth off her good name. But of course it couldn't save her. For all time now, she is nothing but one of five thieves who gave this country over to the most criminal administration in history. Her name will live in infamy.

She wanted to retire to take care of her husband, who had Alzheimer's, but was unwilling to retire unless a Republican was in office. She felt she had a right to put a Republican in office to suit eown personal needs.

[Bluerthanblue]

11. k&r

he's a good man.


:hi:

[davidpdx]

12. I have yet to read that

When I get home to visit this summer that's one of the books I'm going to pick up when I visit Powell's in Portland (I've made a promise to my wife that I'll only bring back 6 or 7 books and if I don't keep to that promise that she can slap me silly). I can probably find it here in Korea, but books tend to be expensive. I did find Team of Rivals by Goodwin-Kerns and am about a third of the way through it.

[Lucky Luciano]

31. Powell's is one of the best book stores in the world I say.

Here in NYC, I would consier The Strand to be incredible as well.

[DefenseLawyer]

13. I would be like playing cards with your most trusted friends

and discovering that half of them were cheating. Yeah you may have had different styles of play but you never thought they would cheat. A crushing realization, magnified about a million times when you are talking about the United States Supreme Court and the basic legal foundations of the damn country. Weep indeed.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

14. The "Supreme" judicial system had become OFFICIALLY tainted. All those concerned, cried. nt

[Marr]

20. I can understand why. I think that decision destroyed the Supreme Court's integrity in

the minds of many. It suddenly became just one more rigged political organ.

[Senator]

21. We Should Draft Justice Souter To Deal With Our War Crimes

It might be our best chance to http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5572518">begin redeem our national soul.

--

[Mme. Defarge]

24. Who appointed him? n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

25. H.W. Bush n/t

[gkhouston]

26. Poppy Bush. n/t

[Steven_D]

28. He'll be missed

A great justice.

[eleny]

30. This book is a good read that I enjoyed cover to cover