http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =103694193

Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire

by Nina Totenberg


NPR.org, April 30, 2009 · NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the court's current term.

The court has completed hearing oral arguments for the year and will be issuing rulings and opinions until the end of June.

Souter is expected to remain on the bench until a successor has been chosen and confirmed, which may or may not be accomplished before the court reconvenes in October.

At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court, but he has made clear to friends for some time now that he wanted to leave Washington, a city he has never liked, and return to his native New Hampshire.

Now, according to reliable sources, he has decided to take the plunge and has informed the White House of his decision.

Souter's retirement would give President Obama his first appointment to the high court, and most observers expect that he will appoint a woman.

The court currently has one female justice — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is recovering from cancer surgery.

Obama was elected with strong support from women.

An Obama pick would be unlikely to change the ideological makeup of the court. Souter, though appointed by the first President Bush, generally votes with the more liberal members of the court, a group of four that is in a rather consistent minority.

Obama should appoint an openly gay person. Expose all the bigots in the houses of congress and give gay's a chance for equality in marriage.

Other people were saying a woman will almost certainly be the nominee. Go for the gay woman and nominate Janet Napolitano. She was Attorney General of Arizona, and FTW, she was Anita Hill's attorney during the Clarence Thomas hearings.

bad political move
and ...those bigots do not hide the fact that they are bigots when it comes to the gay
they actually argue that it's not bigotted to hate the gay

i say put another woman

janet napolitano is gay?

Janet Napolitano would be known as "The Justice Who Makes Me Think of Ice Cream."

with pubic hair, right clarence?

Well, she's not exactly open about it, but neither is Lindsay Graham...

If your name was Lindsay you'd be confused too.

I figured the left would get to essentially "hold serve" on SCOTUS when Obama got elected and the inevitable retirements of Stevens & Ginsburg. I guess that's even more the case now.

Scalia could always die of evil, Nick.

Um, you have to nominate human beings, not space pigs.

Boo. Janet rocks.

Diane Wood.

That is all.

Just read her wiki. I like her so far...

While I don't agree with her philosophically on some issues, she's a really great judge and a good person. My boss argued in front of her a couple of times on cases on which I worked, and my girlfriend (in law school) clerked for her. She used to have her clerks and their significant others over for dinner every other month just to catch up. Selfishly, I never went.

in am unfortunate twist , the front runner appears to be a mexican with a name that sounds alot like the chief executive of a town named after hot man on man anal ass rape

sonia sotomayor

or a frankfurter made for rectal insertion



spicy

Usually when u think Mexican, you think stuff coming out of your butt.

Sounds like another voting buying plan, just like Alberto Gonzales. Wood may be his best choice, versus space pig and Sotomayor.

That's great, she definitely deserves to be on the SCOTUS.

Well, presumably Obama knows her personally from U of C, so I guess he knows what her politics are.