Will Roberts or Alito become more liberal as they age?

[Liberal_in_LA]

Stevens was one of those judges that starts out conservative, appointed by a repub then becomes liberal. Any hope for Roberts or Alito? they are relatively young. I assume no hope for Thomas or Scalia... maybe for Thomas if Scalia steps down... Thomas seems to be Scalia's beotch.

[Warpy]

1. No hope for Thomas, either, he's not smart enough to be flexible.

I do see a small glimmer of hope for Roberts. I haven't seen cause for hope for Alito, who also strikes me as a completely rigid man, unable to change even when proven completely wrong.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Isnt Alito the one who lives a solitary life in his birth home? That might

tell us something about his rigidity.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. Wasn't he the one whose wife pretended to cry at the confirmation hearings?

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. Not sure. the confirmation hearings of rightwing a**holes are difficult for me to watch

[onehandle]

2. No. Rove picked them.

SCOTUS will be far right for decades.

90,000+ Florida voters, can be wrong.

[saltpoint]

5. It seems unlikely.

Not that I wouldn't want them to.

[Silent3]

6. Did Stevens really become more liberal over time?

It's not like I have his judicial record in front of me for review right now, so I'm willing to believe that's true, I'm just asking the question. It seems likely that he might merely appear more liberal with everything shifting rightward around him while he stays in the same place.

[gkhouston]

9. No. He was always decent, fair-minded, and respectful of the law. The Court

changed around him. 35 years is a long time to serve and a lot changed in that time. The meme going around is that the country became more conservative. What I think actually happened is that the Senate became more conservative, largely due to well-funded campaigns and the use of media, especially the use of "news" outlets that have increasingly become entertainment/propaganda outlets rather than news organizations.

[joeybee12]

15. Agreed...while Roberts and Alito have always been lying POS's...

a leopard can't change its spots...the facsism is in their bones.

[underpants]

10. As NPR said yesterday he "moved left" because the court moved "radically right"

Of course it was Nina Tottenberg (sp?) reporting. It was a complete report including the fact that Stevens hates when he hears that he is a liberal-according to a longtime friend.

[gkhouston]

7. No, but they will become more isolated and embittered on the Court, and their

opinions will hold less weight with the others as time goes by. I'm guessing that any SC Justices seated during Obama's time in office will not share their mindset nor be people easily swayed by their views. Say what you like about Sotomayor, I think she was a good pick and will prove to be an execellent one in the long run. She's not gonna be cowed by their bullshit and I expect the same will be true of Justice Steven's replacement.

[tom_paine]

11. No! Loyal Bushies, like Loyal Nazis, don't change their stripes

End of discussion.

Those men would execute their own grandmothers if it made a buck or political hay for their Masters' interests.

I wish I was exaggerating alot, but only slightly - perhaps not even that much.

[Sebastian Doyle]

16. Scalia's father was literally a fascist.

Big Mussolini fan. A perfect friend for the Hitler funding Bush Crime Family.

[underpants]

12. And risk being outed? No way

Let's face it-the Repubs were getting killed in the 60's and 70's because they lacked "talent" so they hit the Ivy League looking for the upper crust and trustworthy of the immigrant class. Who better to pick than higher achievers yearning to be a part of the power structure AND who you had the goods on? They have to follow along are the will be ruined in a second.

Norquist
Cheney (and his wife)
Rove (not an Ivy leaguer)
most of the cast and characters of the rightwing literally world
etc.

[Richard Steele]

13. No. Those who follow the Dark Side perpetually spiral INWARD nm.

[haele]

14. I don't think there's any chance of the three you mentioned going moderate -

Thomas, I'm pretty confident will not change. He's a non-personality who's conservative because that's the typecast he's decided he wants to be. I don't think he's very confident or even really self-aware, I have observed over the years that he's a basically a bureaucrat who needs a set of rules and guidances to help him makes decisions. When he's "on his own", he fades into a follower who stays on script because that's the only thing he knows how to do - and he's done that very well, first with Rehnquist, now with Scalia. I don't think he's as comfortable with Roberts as he was with the other two; he may quit when Scalia does, unless Alito comes out of his shell and starts making a presence. I remember his conformation hearing; my impression of the anger he was showing was because he was being "attacked", it seemed to from frustration that things were not going his way like they were supposed to and that it was taking too long for him to be confirmed.

IMO, Roberts is too afraid to come out of his closet (apologies if he isn't, he really pings my gay-dar) which tends to make him petulant and contrary at the best of times. My opinion is that he knows he has a good gig playing conservative advocate, and he gets a lot of satisfaction telling people what to do and "pissing on their Wheaties" as the saying goes if he feels it can advance his status. Appearances really seem to matter to him.

Alito - there's always something off with him. The weeping he did during his confirmation, the mouthing of "that's not right" during the SotU speech indicates he is the center of his universe, and I don't think he takes well to anything that challenges it. Personally, I can see him being the next Abe Fortis - up for impeachment in the next ten years, if he doesn't quit because he can't "take the heat". I wouldn't put it past him to do something totally, stupidly illegal because he can justify it in his own mind. (Hey, under federal Law, like the Bible, anyone can cite a reason to do anything; whether it's a reasonable, objective justification or just a subjective fantasy justification, is up to the person making the justification...)

Kennedy is a reasonable man if you can find a constitutional argument for your case, so whether or not he'll tend more moderate depends on how well he can respond to the positions of Sotomayor or Steven's replacement.

Just my two and a cracked-half cents.