Souter Will Retire

US Supreme Court David Souter will retire at the end of the current court term.

Amerians: THIS is why we needed to elect a Democrat to office.

NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the current court term.

The vacancy will give President Obama his first chance to name a member of the high court and begin to shape its future direction.

NPR

This, of course, makes two things very very important. Listen carefully.

1) Franken has to get to Washington.

2) All other progressive and Democratic Caucus Senators have to be preserved in place and it would not hurt to replace a Republican or two should they happen to disappear for some reason. Switching parties would be OK.

You see, the Republicans follow a bully strategy. If they are out numbered, out classed, out voted, out logic-ed, and out argued, and there is a single stone left on the playground, they will pick that stone up and throw it at the nearest liberal. The Senate confirms the court nominees. The Republicans can keep an appointee out of the court ... or force an inappropriate nominee ... if they have enough representation in the Senate. With only 29 percent of Americans self-identified as Republicans in the latest poll, there really sould not be about 50 Senators

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I would like to see a nonbeliever appointed to SCOTUS. It is obvious that a certain portion of the existing bench is friendly towards the integration of Christianity into the government, and gives the old "wink, wink, nudge nudge" to cases involving separation of church and state.

Nonbelievers make up something like 15% of the populace, and deserve to be represented.

By Reginald Selkirk (not verified) on 01 May 2009 #permalink

David Souter has been an excellent justice. He is only 70 years old. He could still serve many years productively. Its too bad that the right wing justices, especially Thomas and Scolia don't dry up and wither away.

By NewEnglandBob (not verified) on 01 May 2009 #permalink

"The vacancy will give President Obama his first chance to name a member of the high court and begin to shape its future direction."

The only way Obama could shape the future direction of the court is to substitute conservative judges and even if one of them vacates the post, I don't see it happening without a bare knuckle fight.

"The only way Obama could shape the future direction of the court is to substitute conservative judges" ...

He could nominate Hillary Clinton ... which would be great political theater. The sparks would fly. The howls of outrage would reach the heavens. Talking heads would explode on live TV.

Invest in popcorn futures.

With the double punch of Specter switching parties and a Supreme Court seat opening up, you can be sure that Norm and his Republican overlords are going to dig in even harder. Franken may not get to the Senate until the fall. I would love to be proved wrong.