Ethics

Justice Souter to Retire

By Ed Brayton

CNN is reporting that Justice David Souter will retire from the U.S. Supreme Court at the end of the court's term in June, presenting President Obama with his first opportunity to fill a vacancy on the high court.

This is a bit of a surprise, though not entirely. Souter is not one of the older justices on the court, but he quite famously dislikes living in Washington DC and those close to him have long said that he wishes to return to his beloved New Hampshire. Still, most observers assumed that the first vacancy would be from the retirement of either John Paul Stevens, the oldest member of the court at 88 years old, or Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second oldest at 76 who has been battling pancreatic cancer.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on May 01, 2009 (boomark / email).