Stevens Retirement Opens Door to another Radical Obama Supreme Court Appointment
Liberal Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring from the Supreme Court, giving President Obama the same number of High Court vacancies to fill in just over a year that President Bush had during his entire eight-year presidency. According to USA Today:
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, an unassuming Chicagoan in bow ties who became a shrewd strategist and liberal leader of the modern Supreme Court, announced his retirement Friday morning. He has served nearly 35 years and is about to turn 90.
In many ways, Stevens' departure may be more significant for the Supreme Court than fellow liberal David Souter's retirement last year. Stevens, more than any other justice on the left, has taken the lead to craft coalitions that include swing-vote conservatives, allowing liberals to prevail in some key cases that limited the death penalty and expanded gay rights even as the court shifted increasingly to the right.
At least this time, we don’t have to guess what type of Justice President Obama will nominate. He has a track record. His first Supreme Court pick was Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
As you may recall, Judicial Watch vigorously opposed the Sotomayor nomination.
During an October 2001 speech at the University of California Berkeley, Sotomayor famously said the following: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.” Judge Sotomayor has also promoted the idea that "gender and national origins" of judges “may and will make a difference in our judging.”
Now there’s Berkeley Professor Goodwin Liu, Obama’s pick to serve as a United States Circuit Judge in the Ninth Circuit, who suggests the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted using the “evolving norms and traditions of our society.” (I just covered the Liu nomination a couple of weeks ago. Click here for more details.)
With appointees like Justice Sotomayor and Mr. Liu, Obama is simply keeping one of his campaign promises. Remember this statement during the presidential campaign in 2007? "We need somebody who's got the heart — the empathy — to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African American or gay or disabled or old — and that's the criteria by which I'll be selecting my judges."
That’s how we got Sonia Sotomayor. And now I wager we’re in for more of the same.
Sure enough, Obama’s statement on the retirement of the arch-liberal Justice Stevens restates the empathy standard without actually using the word “empathy”: “I will seek someone in the coming weeks with similar qualities — an independent mind, a record of excellence and integrity, a fierce dedication to the rule of law, and a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people. It will also be someone who, like Justice Stevens, knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.
So Obama wants a Supreme Court justice who won’t “allow” powerful interests to “drown out” ordinary citizens. This is results-oriented justice and is at odds with the standard of impartial justice and the oath of office that judges are required take:
“I, XXX XXX, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as XXX under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”
Your Judicial Watch is prepared to take steps if Obama nominates a person for the Supreme Court who could be expected to rule contrary to the Constition and in violation of the judicial oath of office. Here’s the statement I offered to the press regarding Stevens’ replacement, which carries a note of caution for the President as he contemplates his second Supreme Court nomination:
“President Obama needs to replace Justice Stevens with a person who will apply the Constitution strictly and not substitute their own political beliefs for the rule of law. If President Obama nominates an ‘empathetic’ liberal judicial activist, he will have a fight on his hands. With looming constitutional challenges ranging from Obamacare to new rights for foreign terrorists, the United States Senate should ensure that only a justice who will strictly interpret the U.S. Constitution is approved. Given the stakes, every U.S. Senator should know that the upcoming Supreme Court vote will be as closely watched as their votes on Obamacare. Tea Party activists ought to be paying close attention to this nomination.”
You can expect Judicial Watch to be a very active participant in the debate over the next Supreme Court nomination. (Here’s a Washington Post listing of the possible picks and, frankly, the list is terrible for those of us concerned about constitutional rule of law.) The President promises to move quickly, so stay tuned.
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Until next week...
Tom Fitton
President
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