Sizing up the Supreme Court after Justice John Paul Stevens retires (Kennedy to be senior Justice)

[usregimechange]

The Supreme Court is about to undergo another generational transition, as the senior leader of its liberal wing, John Paul Stevens, is expected to retire this summer and be replaced by a junior justice appointed by President Obama.

For the moment, the front-runners for the nomination, assuming Stevens does announce his retirement after he turns 90 next month, are said by legal insiders to be U.S. Solicitor Gen. Elena Kagan, 49; Judge Diane Wood, 59, of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago; and Judge Merrick Garland, 57, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

They were all once law clerks at the Supreme Court for liberal justices, and they have ties to President Clinton. Wood and Garland were Clinton appointees; Kagan worked in the Clinton White House.

None of them would probably change the ideological balance on the court. But neither would any of them quite replace Stevens, simply because of his experience, his gentle persuasiveness and, particularly, his key position as the senior justice on the court's liberal side for the last 16 years...

"Before and after Justice Stevens, it was often the case that if a 'liberal' result is possible, it is because Justice Kennedy is leaning that way," said Walter Dellinger, solicitor general under President Clinton. "But after Stevens, Justice Kennedy will be the senior justice in almost any liberal majority, and he will assign the opinion to himself or another justice. It may even, at the margin, influence how he votes."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-court-stevens22-2010mar22,0,563537.story

[bullimiami]

1. the senior liberal leader was a republican nominated by gerald ford.

the court has skewed far to the right in the last half century.
maybe it can finally start a course correction.

[SPedigrees]

2. I hope President Obama selects one of these younger liberal judges

to the high court to replace Roberts, and the other two to replace other retiring Supreme Crt justices.

[rfranklin]

3. Let's hope that Fat Tony or Clarence the Clown go next...

Not that I would wish for anything unfortunate to happen to either of them.

[grantcart]

4. This is not the problem that it seems

if the rest of the majority don't agree with the first majority opinion they simply write their own.

In other words the Justice who assigns the opinion will try and assign it to the justice that has the most encompassing argument.

If Kennedy wants to write the opinion it will pull him further to the left.