Newswise — Michael C. Dorf, constitutional law scholar, former Supreme Court law clerk and professor at Cornell University Law School, discusses the implications of the impending retirement of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
He says:
“Justice Stevens began his three-and-a-half decades on the Supreme Court as a moderate with an independent streak. For most of the second half of his service he has been the unquestioned leader of the Court's liberal wing, having arrived there in part through an evolution of his own views and in part because the Court moved to his right. But even as his role on the Court changed, Justice Stevens remained constant in his good humor, keen sense of fairness and respect for the fundamental principles of our legal system.
“Public attention will now rapidly turn to President Obama's search for a nominee to succeed Justice Stevens. I would hope that we first take a collective moment to honor the legacy of a man from a different era – a liberal about whom the Republican President who nominated him later said that he was ‘prepared to allow history's judgment’ of his own term in office to rest on the decision to nominate Justice Stevens.”
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