Does The Supreme Court Need Reserve Players On The Bench?

August 17, 2010

A standing-room-only crowd filled the courtroom of Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently when retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor appeared there to help decide three Montana cases. Although it is rare to see a former member of the nation’s highest court fill in on a lower court panel, it is not unusual in the federal court system for judges to substitute for one another. The only court …

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Will Court Conservatives Challenge Land-Use Rules?

June 28, 2010

The confirmation hearings that get underway today on Elena Kagan’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court are, in the cosmic scheme of things, a sideshow. If she is confirmed, Kagan is expected to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens in the court’s bloc of four reliably “liberal” justices. (I dislike the liberal/conservative labels because they have such rubbery definitions, but for lack of a better alternative, here is my take: …

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We Need More Justices Like Stevens

April 14, 2010

The retirement of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens will remove my favorite jurist from public life, but I am hopeful that his thoughtful, fair-minded legacy will live on through some current justices and others yet to be appointed. Stevens, who will turn 90 next Tuesday, announced last week that he will leave the court this summer. He is our last link to an era when Supreme Court candidates were …

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