More Souter on my Mind

And I suppose one of the reasons I will so miss David Souter on the bench is his down-to-earth attitude. He's a frugal, New Hampshire bachelor who once described his position on the Supreme Court as "the best job in the world in the worst city in the world" -- in other words, just my kinda guy. I can understand why he will be happy to get back home to his farm here in New England, but I also imagine he will miss the intellectual stimulation that his position as an Associate Justice offered to him.



Furthermore, between her serious cancer and his advanced age, I always thought that either Ruth Bader Ginsberg or John Paul Stevens would be the first to step down. But apparently they both plan to keep working a little longer, so the 69-year-old Souter is taking his chance at "early" retirement (at his full salary) and then, like his one-time Court Colleague Sandra Day O'Conner, apparently plans to continue to hear cases at the appellate level as part of a program to help lighten the backlog of of appeals created by the confirmation backlog. But with Arlen Specter coming over from the "Dark Side," and Al Franken FINALLY on the threshold of being awarded HIS seat in the Senate, the Democrats should finally be able to field a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority, and be able to confirm whoever Obama decides to appoint.



Judging from the press reports, New York's "two-fer" Judge Sonia Sotomayor (female and Hispanic) seems to be the front-runner. But I kinda like Stanford's Kathleen Sullivan, with Sotomayor still "on the bench" until the next seat comes open. And even under normal circumstances, Obama may actually get a chance to appoint as many as four new Justices, since there is also some talk that Anthony Kennedy may be thinking of retirement as well.

drawing by Kerry Waghorn

Pity though that (short of a virulent swine flu pandemic) there doesn't seem to be much hope of either Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas stepping down any time soon. Scalia at least can be entertaining, if his opinions weren't so outrageous (and didn't potentially have the force of law). And speaking of Clarence Thomas, in my opinion Arlen Specter still has an awful lot to answer for when it comes to THAT confirmation fiasco. I wonder whether Anita Hill will make it on to anyone's short list?



But mostly it's the retirement thing I'm ruminating about. What DOES one do after one has "retired" from the best job in the world? That's the lesson I'm hoping David Souter can help ME learn. And relatively quickly....