NPR: Justice Souter to Resign

The nomination of Souter was Papa Sununu's greatest moment (4.00 / 3)

He was good for one thing!

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by: Putney Swope @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 21:23:13 PM CDT

true (0.00 / 0)

thanks to Warren Rudman as well

Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.

www.emersondemocrats.com

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by: CMGately @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 21:26:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Broken clocks twice a day n/t (4.00 / 4)

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 11:56:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm calling on President Obama to do the right thing here. (4.00 / 3)

We need a New Hampshirite on the court.

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by: This Was The Moment @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 21:34:27 PM CDT

We have a Jewish seat and a black seat - we should also have a permanent New Hampshire seat (4.00 / 1)

Jon Bresler for US Supreme Court Justice!!

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by: Putney Swope @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 21:44:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Clarence Thomas doesn't count. (4.00 / 1)

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by: This Was The Moment @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 22:25:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Doesn't read either. n/t (4.00 / 4)

...the Doo Dah Man once told me you've got to play your hand. Sometimes the cards ain't worth a dime if you don't lay 'em down.

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by: rambler american @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 04:51:35 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

TWO NH seats (0.00 / 0)

Justice Breyer has a place in Plainfield.

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by: elwood @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 05:15:31 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Many thanks to David Souter! (4.00 / 4)

He's been a sensible, honest judge, and a credit to New Hampshire - and, notably, several years ahead of the state in refusing to follow the Republicans over the right-wing cliff!

IT for John Lynch '04 and NHDP '08 - I'm liking my track record so far!

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by: RealNRH @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 21:42:34 PM CDT

John Hutson (4.00 / 3)

I pick this guy for everything. He would be an asset with all this torture, GITMO, enemy combatant crap the Bushies are leaving us to clean up.

www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 21:58:18 PM CDT

Hutson (0.00 / 0)

Didn't it recently come out that he opined within the Bush Admin, as a bigwig military lawyer, that torture is torture, and they shouldn't do it?

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by: This Was The Moment @ Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 22:26:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hutson (0.00 / 0)

played a key role in that.

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 04:50:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

John Hutson, and all of the military lawyers and FBI and Justice employees who stood up to the war criminals, are heroes. but (4.00 / 2)

please dont besmirch them with the phrase "within the Bush Administration".

An excellent book on the Cheney driven effort to put lipstick on torture and the brave pushback by people within the military and justice department who were trying to uphold the rule of law is The Dark Side by Jane Mayer.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 08:00:59 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you, Justice Souter. (4.00 / 4)

(And I think "retire" is the right verb.)

Souter came out of a long string of impressive Attorneys General begun under Walter Peterson. They were mostly moderate Republicans - but in their jobs as AG they always seemed to be driven by the law.

His time on the Court has been similarly driven by the law as he sees it - leavened by a real connection to and compassion for real people.

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by: elwood @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 05:31:49 AM CDT

Souter (4.00 / 4)

According to Jeff Toobin in his book The Nine, Souter was so distraught over the Bush v. Gore decision that he seriously considered resigning then. What made him hang on was the Rule of 80, which gives you a better pension if your age and service equal 80 years or more (so if you're 65, you need 15 years of service).

Souter was born in 1939. He was exactly 61 in 2000, and he joined the court in 1990, putting him at 71 Rule of 80 years. Five years after that, 2005, he'd be 66 with 15 years of service.

But he waited until Bush was out of office. I thank him for that most of all.

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by: JimC @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 06:03:33 AM CDT

I most appreciated his apparent agreement that every (0.00 / 0)

pregnancy is potentially a threat to the woman's life and that to force her to undergo that process is an undue burden.

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by: hannah @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 06:15:00 AM CDT

Just to illustrate (4.00 / 3)

how far to the right the "center" has gone, the AP headling reads: "Liberal-Leaning Justice..."

Justice Souter was appointed by Bush pere.

The Garbage Man spoketh:

Bush White House aide John Sununu, the former conservative governor of New Hampshire, hailed his [Poppy Bush's] choice as a "home run."

I think Justice Souter is one of the many moderate Republicans who stayed the same as their party lurched and heaved ever more to the right.  Now he's a "liberal". Just like Governor Peterson, who is as he's always been (more or less).

But it's important when we talk about "centrism" that we realize the center was moved rightward over the last 20 years, and it needs to return to the actual center.

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 07:19:16 AM CDT

David Souter is a Conservative in the truest and finest sense of the word. (4.00 / 7)

A sense that has nothing to do with 99% of the radical right extremists who have stolen the term.

When I was a young public defender, he used to at times impose fearsome sentences but always treated everyone before him with dignity and complete fairness. He held both sides to rigorous standards of honesty and compliance to the law, but never forget how the decisions of courts affect the lives of the powerless. Often I was astonished at his fairness and he remains my ideal of what a justice should be.

He is a kind, decent man of extraordinary intelligence and extraordinary integrity, both personal and intellectual.  

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 08:14:47 AM CDT

Far be it from me (0.00 / 0)

to say who I'd

Like to see getting
A nod to the court.
Unless things
Really have changed, and we see an
End to
Needless partisan rancor. Though
Change is what we voted for, no? It's
Early for speculation.

Time will tell, as it always does, just as
Ratings will come from the ABA.
I hope the Federalist Society is not consulted.
But I am sure they will issue a press release. Lux
Et Veritas? Or just Veritas?

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by: JimC @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 09:35:59 AM CDT

Sonia Sotomayor? (0.00 / 0)

Have any of our jurists interacted with Judge Sotomayor, who The Great Mentioners are already measuring for robes. She looks good on paper - 2nd Circut federal judge, Hispanic, female, previously appointed by both GHW Bush and Clinton, South Bronx to Princeton to Yale, right on Roe - are there any personal observations?

She also used to be an assistant Manhattan DA. Wonder if she knows Jack McCoy?

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by: Tim Ashwell @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 10:00:33 AM CDT

it is traditional... (0.00 / 0)

It is traditional to reserve one seat for New Hampshire, preferably for a current or former state attorney general, so AG Kelley Ayotte is the obvious choice :-)

(Well, it has been traditional since 1990.)

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Thanks for all the fish

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 11:31:12 AM CDT

A loss to the Court (4.00 / 1)

And the country.



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 11:58:57 AM CDT

When WMUR interviewed me this morning (0.00 / 0)

I was asked what I thought of Gov. Deval Patrick which I hear is being mentioned somewhere.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm was on MSNBC about Chrysler earlier but was asked if she was being considered. She punted.

Have you written a letter to the editor today? Have you donated today? Have you put up signs? Have you made calls? Have you talked to your neighbors?

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by: Ray Buckley @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 14:13:09 PM CDT

Obama comments on Souter (0.00 / 0)

Apparently, POTUS bumped Gibbs to give this statement.

(h/t Muzikal203)

www.KusterforCongress.com - www.paulhodesforsenate.com

www.nikitsongas.com - www.devalpatrick.com

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Fri May 01, 2009 at 15:01:02 PM CDT