Justice Stevens retiring

[Cypress]

Didn't Ford call Stevens his biggest mistake?

I still don't see how Ford would be more liberal in this regard than Carter, Clinton or Obama.

I think that's what Poppy said about Souter. I don't remember ford saying that, though I could be wrong.

The SCOTUS of the 1970s was orders of magnitude more liberal than today's court. I'm pretty sure when Stevens was appointed, there weren't gasps of shock. He was probably considered pretty mainstream in the 70s. And as far as I can remember, Ford was pro-choice, pro-affirmative action, and generally as far as I'm concerned, only nominally different than Bill Clinton. Remember that bill clinton helped pass some of the crap that the far rightwing only dreamed was possible in the 70s.


And it's only looking back in time, through the Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh- tinged glasses of today's conservatives, that Stevens looks like some sort of radical, marxist-leninist.

 

[SmarterthanYou]

Hope he gets a farrrr left pro cannabis freedom Judge to replace.

Napolitano? lets hear it for the judge.

 

[Billy the Great Khan]

Napolitano? lets hear it for the judge.

The awesomeness of that court could not be contained in a single building.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

That would be an embarrassment and mockery of the court.

 

[Billy the Great Khan]

That would be an embarrassment and mockery of the court.

Of all previous courts perhaps. Because of the awesomeness that the new one would contain. We need 9 libertarians on the bench. Or 4 Libertarians, 4 Constitutionists, and one swing in between. Either way is perfect to me.

 

[KingCondanomation]

There is nothing wrong with replacing him with a moderate and hardly unprecedented, a decade ago there was 3 Conservatives (Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas), 4 Liberals and 2 moderates (Kennedy and Day-O'Connor).

Replace Stevens with a moderate and you have 4 Conservatives, 2 moderates and 3 Liberals. Big deal.
The lefties on here should show some moderation and realize that it's still fairly balanced.

 

[Bonestorm]

There is nothing wrong with replacing him with a moderate and hardly unprecedented, a decade ago there was 3 Conservatives (Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas), 4 Liberals and 2 moderates (Kennedy and Day-O'Connor).

Replace Stevens with a moderate and you have 4 Conservatives, 2 moderates and 3 Liberals. Big deal.
The lefties on here should show some moderation and realize that it's still fairly balanced.

There is no "proper" ideological balance on the Court. Obama should nominate liberal justices for every spot that opens up during his tenure regardless of whom is being replaced.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

Now that the left wing Sotomayor is in, there should be a moderate to replace Stevens.

Only a far right wingnut extremist would think Sotomayor is a far left liberal.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

A liberal, replaced with a liberal. No change for the SCOTUS.

That's not fair. Stevens was more of an independenat, moderate leaning Jurist appointed, need I reminde you, by a Republican President. That fact that in recent years he sided more with the liberal Jurist just goes to show you how far to the right the Republican party has drifted in the last 30 years.

 

[leaningright]

Only a far right wingnut extremist would think Sotomayor is a far left liberal.

Oops, I've been categorized again. I am on the record that Sotomayor is way to left for me to be satisfied with her as a justice.

But hey, all you right wing folks, what do you expect Obama to do, replace justice Stevens with Mills Lane? Ain't gonna happen.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

How the hell did a Republican appoint the court's most liberal member? For those who can remember when he was confirmed what was your initial take on him?

That he was a right of center moderate.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

That's because you don't remember a time when there were sane, and modestly progressive republicans. Even liberal republicans. The republicans of the last 20 years have become so reactionary, so extremist, so rightwing, that Gerald Ford and Eisenhower seem like communists by comparison. Just listen to Glenn Beck or most rightwing talk radio. They hate Teddy Roosevelt with a passion, even those he's the greatest republican president of the 20th century.

Aint that the truth. Look at Health Care Reform. The plan Obama signed into law was more conservative then the one proposed by Richard Nixon.

 

[Cancel 2018. 3]

There is no "proper" ideological balance on the Court. Obama should nominate liberal justices for every spot that opens up during his tenure regardless of whom is being replaced.

irony

because if you had your way, the balance would be all liberal

 

[Bonestorm]

irony

because if you had your way, the balance would be all liberal

Yes, you are correct. If I had my way, the Court would be liberal. (That's why I said Obama should nominate liberals regardless of whom is being replaced) That doesn't mean that a liberal Court is the "proper" ideological balance.

You don't seem to understand what irony is.

 

[KingCondanomation]

Only a far right wingnut extremist would think Sotomayor is a far left liberal.

Did the far left complain about her? Nope. THAT is the benchmark an honest person uses.
Because the far left has CERTAINLY complained about other Liberals that strayed even a bit to moderation (ie: Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu).

 

[KingCondanomation]

Aint that the truth. Look at Health Care Reform. The plan Obama signed into law was more conservative then the one proposed by Richard Nixon.

Just about everyone is more Conservative than in the 70's, who on earth would judge that decade of Liberalism as something positive?

Ultimately we have had nothing but more and more government in healthcare (ie: Patients Rights Bill in the 90's, forced emergency care in the 80's, HMO Act of the 70's, Medicare/Medicaid in the 60's and on and on), yet you on the left have done nothing but LIE about the mounting problems with those increases in government healthcare being more and more a failure of the "free market".

"When democratic governments create economic calamity, free markets get the blame." – Jack Kemp

 

[Minister of Truth]

Only a far right wingnut extremist would think Sotomayor is a far left liberal.

It is quite possible that Sotomayor will be a huge disappointment to the left, because her liberal credentials were largely established off of stupid comments she had made (indicating she's quite liberal) rather than off of a litany of liberal legal largesse.

 

[Damocles]

It is quite possible that Sotomayor will be a huge disappointment to the left, because her liberal credentials were largely established off of stupid comments she had made (indicating she's quite liberal) rather than off of a litany of liberal legal largesse.

This post is full of win.

 

[Cypress]

It is quite possible that Sotomayor will be a huge disappointment to the left, because her liberal credentials were largely established off of stupid comments she had made (indicating she's quite liberal) rather than off of a litany of liberal legal largesse.

I think I'm more familiar than you with the left, and it was thought by most on the left that sotomayor was pretty mainstream. Not some super liberal crusador.

It's only on places like the Limbaugh show, that gave the impression that she was a white guy-hating wise Latina with Marxist-Leninist roots.

 

[KingCondanomation]

I think I'm more familiar than you with the left, and it was thought by most on the left that sotomayor was pretty mainstream. Not some super liberal crusador.

It's only on places like the Limbaugh show, that gave the impression that she was a white guy-hating wise Latina with Marxist-Leninist roots.

Same thing I said to Mott:

Did the far left complain about her? Nope. THAT is the benchmark an honest person uses.
Because the far left has CERTAINLY complained about other Liberals that strayed even a bit to moderation (ie: Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu).