Stevens told Pelley, "It should've denied the stay, period."

[Tuesday Afternoon]

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens Opens Up
60 Minutes: Retired Justice Reflects on Decisions That Helped Shape American History

(CBS) Justice John Paul Stevens has shaped more American history than any Supreme Court justice alive. And for most of his 35 years on the court, he followed the usual tradition: declining to talk about his cases in interviews.

As he prepared to retire, "60 Minutes" and correspondent Scott Pelley hoped he would overrule that custom and talk with us about the decisions that have changed our times.

It was Stevens who forced a showdown with President Bush over the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and Stevens who tried to stop the court from deciding the presidential election of 2000.

At the end of his last term, Justice Stevens ruled on our request and, in a series of interviews, opened a rare window into the nation's highest court.

more at link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/23/60minutes/main7082572.shtml

[stevenleser]

1. I'd give up 5 years of my life if he could live forever and be a Supreme Court Justice...

he's one of the all time greats IMHO.

[Supersedeas]

2. Pelley plays buddy-buddy, but inevitably show his true colors:

"He rendered a service to the country in those opinions?" Pelley asked.

"Yeah. That made him one of the great judges," Souter said.

"I would imagine that the majority of the American people would probably disagree with you on these opinions," Pelley told Stevens.


Pelley has some imagination, but he also has a corporate sponsored national platform to put his imagination on full display.

[gratuitous]

3. Stevens' only possible response to Pelley's dumb observation

"A majority of the American people might indeed disagree with me on these opinions, but you asked me about them, and I told you what I decided and why. See, that's what a Supreme Court Justice does; applies Constitutional tests to these cases without worrying about the fickle winds of public opinion. It's what's supposed to stop the logic of the lynch mob from becoming the law of the land."

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. Stevens is a class act.

Good recovery on his part.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. at least Stevens had a national platform to say what he said.

and unfortunately, Pelley could well be right with that statement, much as we here at DU would beg to differ.

[sketchy]

6. I just don't see how Obama could have been elected by a majority

of the American people if they did in fact disagree with the Stevens decisions they were discussing. McCain would have been elected instead.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. Several reasons -- Palin for one, imo.

Eight years of Bush, for another.