The Judical Reveiw. Posting Two

The retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens this year brings up many difficult questions; specifically it brings up a question of partisanship. The appointment of a new justice to the Supreme Court will be a very partisan charged decision. Justice Stevens leaves a legacy of being a “cautious” liberal; and his judicial philosophy through the years has indeed been more liberal than conservative even though he was nominated by a Republican president.
Beings that Stevens was a liberal leaning Justice, President Obama will have a difficult opening to fill. He can either replace Stevens with another liberal, or he can follow the road less traveled, and place a conservative. If he were to place a conservative it would bring down a long standing trend and help to support bipartisanship.
Presidents typically choose their candidates based not only on merit but also according to ideological views. Most presidents nominate someone who is of their party. Judges decide cases starting with statutes, or laws passed by the legislature. It is for this reason that nominating someone with similar views to the president is important. Long after the president is out of office, the judge will still be impacting statutes and therefore, the law. This power is far reaching beyond a four year presidency.
Stevens is anomaly is this regard. Raised by President Ford, a conservative Republican, he had a moderately conservative record. Early in his tenure on the Supreme Court, Stevens had a relatively moderate voting record. He voted to reinstate capital punishment in the United States and opposed race-based admissions programs such as the program at issue in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978). But on the more conservative Rehnquist Court, Stevens joined the more liberal Justices on issues such as abortion rights, gay rights and federalism. In a 2003 statistical analysis of Supreme Court voting patterns found Stevens the most liberal member of the Court
Obama has said that he plans to move quickly to nominate a replacement. According to an article from FOXnews.com the leading candidates to replace Stevens are Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 49, and federal appellate Judges Merrick Garland, 57, and Diane Wood, 59.
Next, we will be examining these candidates closely. Many Republicans have expressed that they will fight to block any extreme liberals from the courtship. Whatever Obama’s choice, the next steps in this replacement will be very exciting and have a large political impact.

Sources Referenced:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/09/supreme-court-justice-john-paul-stevens-retire/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/us/politics/11supreme.html

http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/04/17/1900062/lessons-learned-shape-obamas-court.html

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/20/brazile.justice.stevens/index.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2010/0409/Filling-John-Paul-Stevens-Supreme-Court-vacancy-big-test-for-Obama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens