The White House’s aggressive drive to recalibrate its message and emphasize the issues it thinks will resonate best with voters could be upended if — as is widely expected — John Paul Stevens, the Supreme Court’s senior justice, decides it is time to retire.
The retirement of the court’s 89-year-old liberal stalwart would confront President Barack Obama with a difficult and highly partisan confirmation battle that could drag on for months at a time when the White House wants to focus on selling the administration’s historic health care legislation and efforts to turn around the economy.
Facing a markedly different political landscape than last spring, when David Souter’s retirement provided the first chance to put a Democrat on the court since 1994, Obama will likely decide on a successor to Stevens based on a calculation of how contentious a confirmation fight he wants to have, and whether it would help mobilize his party’s liberal base for the mid-term election in November.
The possibility of Stevens’ retirement – he has said he will decide within weeks – already has the interest groups that gear up for court fights debating which way Obama should lean in choosing a successor.
“Given that it's an election year, I expect Republicans to aggressively oppose whomever Obama nominates, in order to stir up their base,” said Nan Aron of the Alliance for Justice.
“Faced with a Republican fight no matter who the nominee is, the president ought to choose a fitting successor to Justice Stevens.”Read more:
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