John Paul Stevens Dies
Jul 17, 2019 12:37:08 #
slatten49
Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
John Paul Stevens: Canny Strategist and the ‘Finest Legal Mind’ Ford Could Find, By Adam Liptak
WASHINGTON — Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired from the Supreme Court in 2010 and died on Tuesday at 99, was the last of a breed. He was chosen for his ability as a lawyer and not, as is common today, for how he was likely to v**e in ideologically charged cases. In picking him in 1975, President Gerald R. Ford, a Republican, said all he wanted was “the finest legal mind I could find.”
Justice Stevens was confirmed 19 days after his nomination, by a unanimous v**e. Though Roe v. Wade had established a constitutional right to a******n only two years earlier, no senator asked him about the decision during his confirmation hearings, which were the last not to be broadcast live on television.
Three decades later, Ford expressed satisfaction with his choice, who had by then emerged as the leader of the court’s liberal wing.
“I am prepared,” Ford wrote, “to allow history’s judgment of my term in office to rest (if necessarily, exclusively) on my nomination 30 years ago of Justice John Paul Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
By most accounts, Justice Stevens drifted left over his decades on the court, assuming leadership of its liberal wing. But he said it was the court that had moved to the right.
In an interview in 2010, he said that every one of the dozen justices appointed to the court since 1971, including himself, was more conservative than his or her predecessor, with the possible exception of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Justice Stevens was a canny strategist who wrote the first drafts of his opinions, a rarity among modern justices. “I really think it’s a good practice because you will find sometimes that it won’t write, and then you have to start over,” he said in 2010.
He worked behind the scenes, with mixed success, in cases on gun rights, affirmative action, a******n and executive power. He grew disillusioned with the death penalty over the years, announcing in 2008 his conclusion that it violated the Eighth Amendment. But he went on to say that his conclusion did not justify “a refusal to respect precedents that remain a part of our law.”
His most significant dissent may have been in 2010 in the Citizens United campaign finance case, which he viewed as a grave mistake. He stumbled over and mispronounced several words as he announced it from the bench.
Even so, there was no mistaking his basic message. “The rule announced today — that Congress must treat corporations exactly like human speakers in the political realm — represents a radical change in the law,” he said. “The court’s decision is at war with the views of generations of Americans.”
His shaky performance persuaded him that it was time to leave. “Unbeknownst to me,” he wrote in a recent memoir, “I apparently had suffered a ministroke.”
He elaborated in an interview in November. “I made the decision that day,” he said. “After I went to see the doctor, I sent a letter to the president right away.” President Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagan, then the solicitor general, to succeed him.
Of his memoir, Justice Stevens said, “It’s a long story.” And it was.
He was born to a prominent Chicago family that operated what was then the largest hotel in the world, the Stevens Hotel, with 3,000 rooms. He met celebrities like Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, and he was at Wrigley Field for Game 3 of the 1932 World Series to see Babe Ruth’s fabled called-shot home run.
Mr. Stevens attended the University of Chicago and Northwestern University School of Law. In between, he served in the Navy in World War II, signing up on Dec. 6, 1941. “I’m sure you know how the enemy responded the following day,” he liked to say, referring to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He earned a Bronze Star for his work as a code-breaker.
After law school, he served as a clerk to Justice Wiley B. Rutledge Jr., the last of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s appointees. Turning down an offer to teach at Yale Law School, Mr. Stevens returned to Chicago to practice law, specializing in antitrust cases. His career in private practice was broken up by government service, including as counsel to a special commission of the Illinois Supreme Court that led to the resignations of two State Supreme Court justices.
President Richard M. Nixon appointed him in 1970 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago.
Justice Stevens maintained an active life outside the court, and he did much of his work from his home in Florida, for years piloting his own plane there and back. He loved tennis, golf and bridge.
His long life gave him frames of reference — Prohibition, Tokyo Rose — that amused and sometimes confused his colleagues and law clerks.
He did not have an overarching legal philosophy, Justice Stevens said, beyond what emerged from deciding many hundreds of cases.
“There are a lot of things that run through my work over the years that I think are totally consistent,” he said. “There’s a great deal of wisdom to the notion that you try to decide cases narrowly and you let the other decision makers make as many decisions as they can.”
He did not subscribe to originalism, the approach to interpreting the Constitution that emphasizes the original meaning of its text. In a private memorandum to Justice Harry A. Blackmun in 1992, Justice Stevens put his objection this way: “Traditions — especially traditions in the law — are as likely to codify the preferences of those in power as they are to reflect necessity or proven wisdom.”
WASHINGTON — Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired from the Supreme Court in 2010 and died on Tuesday at 99, was the last of a breed. He was chosen for his ability as a lawyer and not, as is common today, for how he was likely to v**e in ideologically charged cases. In picking him in 1975, President Gerald R. Ford, a Republican, said all he wanted was “the finest legal mind I could find.”
Justice Stevens was confirmed 19 days after his nomination, by a unanimous v**e. Though Roe v. Wade had established a constitutional right to a******n only two years earlier, no senator asked him about the decision during his confirmation hearings, which were the last not to be broadcast live on television.
Three decades later, Ford expressed satisfaction with his choice, who had by then emerged as the leader of the court’s liberal wing.
“I am prepared,” Ford wrote, “to allow history’s judgment of my term in office to rest (if necessarily, exclusively) on my nomination 30 years ago of Justice John Paul Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
By most accounts, Justice Stevens drifted left over his decades on the court, assuming leadership of its liberal wing. But he said it was the court that had moved to the right.
In an interview in 2010, he said that every one of the dozen justices appointed to the court since 1971, including himself, was more conservative than his or her predecessor, with the possible exception of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Justice Stevens was a canny strategist who wrote the first drafts of his opinions, a rarity among modern justices. “I really think it’s a good practice because you will find sometimes that it won’t write, and then you have to start over,” he said in 2010.
He worked behind the scenes, with mixed success, in cases on gun rights, affirmative action, a******n and executive power. He grew disillusioned with the death penalty over the years, announcing in 2008 his conclusion that it violated the Eighth Amendment. But he went on to say that his conclusion did not justify “a refusal to respect precedents that remain a part of our law.”
His most significant dissent may have been in 2010 in the Citizens United campaign finance case, which he viewed as a grave mistake. He stumbled over and mispronounced several words as he announced it from the bench.
Even so, there was no mistaking his basic message. “The rule announced today — that Congress must treat corporations exactly like human speakers in the political realm — represents a radical change in the law,” he said. “The court’s decision is at war with the views of generations of Americans.”
His shaky performance persuaded him that it was time to leave. “Unbeknownst to me,” he wrote in a recent memoir, “I apparently had suffered a ministroke.”
He elaborated in an interview in November. “I made the decision that day,” he said. “After I went to see the doctor, I sent a letter to the president right away.” President Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagan, then the solicitor general, to succeed him.
Of his memoir, Justice Stevens said, “It’s a long story.” And it was.
He was born to a prominent Chicago family that operated what was then the largest hotel in the world, the Stevens Hotel, with 3,000 rooms. He met celebrities like Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh, and he was at Wrigley Field for Game 3 of the 1932 World Series to see Babe Ruth’s fabled called-shot home run.
Mr. Stevens attended the University of Chicago and Northwestern University School of Law. In between, he served in the Navy in World War II, signing up on Dec. 6, 1941. “I’m sure you know how the enemy responded the following day,” he liked to say, referring to the attack on Pearl Harbor. He earned a Bronze Star for his work as a code-breaker.
After law school, he served as a clerk to Justice Wiley B. Rutledge Jr., the last of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s appointees. Turning down an offer to teach at Yale Law School, Mr. Stevens returned to Chicago to practice law, specializing in antitrust cases. His career in private practice was broken up by government service, including as counsel to a special commission of the Illinois Supreme Court that led to the resignations of two State Supreme Court justices.
President Richard M. Nixon appointed him in 1970 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago.
Justice Stevens maintained an active life outside the court, and he did much of his work from his home in Florida, for years piloting his own plane there and back. He loved tennis, golf and bridge.
His long life gave him frames of reference — Prohibition, Tokyo Rose — that amused and sometimes confused his colleagues and law clerks.
He did not have an overarching legal philosophy, Justice Stevens said, beyond what emerged from deciding many hundreds of cases.
“There are a lot of things that run through my work over the years that I think are totally consistent,” he said. “There’s a great deal of wisdom to the notion that you try to decide cases narrowly and you let the other decision makers make as many decisions as they can.”
He did not subscribe to originalism, the approach to interpreting the Constitution that emphasizes the original meaning of its text. In a private memorandum to Justice Harry A. Blackmun in 1992, Justice Stevens put his objection this way: “Traditions — especially traditions in the law — are as likely to codify the preferences of those in power as they are to reflect necessity or proven wisdom.”
Jul 17, 2019 13:00:58 #
slatten49 wrote:
John Paul Stevens: Canny Strategist and the ‘Fines... (show quote)
At 99 he had a long and interesting life and coming out of Chicago Illinois I can see him leaning left. I don't know whether that is good or bad but apparently he did a fair job because I don't recall anyone getting to upset with him. I can now see why Obama put Elena Kagan to take his place as she is a liberal as well.
Jul 17, 2019 15:29:14 #
bahmer wrote:
At 99 he had a long and interesting life and coming out of Chicago Illinois I can see him leaning left. I don't know whether that is good or bad but apparently he did a fair job because I don't recall anyone getting to upset with him. I can now see why Obama put Elena Kagan to take his place as she is a liberal as well.
When my son was a rookie in law school, he wrote a paper on Justice Stevens..
Then, being a nieve country kid not knowing any better, he sent a copy of the paper to Mr. Stevens.
To his surprise, Justice Steven sent him a reply, thanking him for his effort and wishing him well in his life as a Lawyer..
That makes my opinion of him unshakable.. he was a fine and memorable man..
Sad to have him leave us..
Jul 17, 2019 15:34:21 #
permafrost wrote:
When my son was a rookie in law school, he wrote a paper on Justice Stevens..
Then, being a nieve country kid not knowing any better, he sent a copy of the paper to Mr. Stevens.
To his surprise, Justice Steven sent him a reply, thanking him for his effort and wishing him well in his life as a Lawyer..
That makes my opinion of him unshakable.. he was a fine and memorable man..
Sad to have him leave us..
Then, being a nieve country kid not knowing any better, he sent a copy of the paper to Mr. Stevens.
To his surprise, Justice Steven sent him a reply, thanking him for his effort and wishing him well in his life as a Lawyer..
That makes my opinion of him unshakable.. he was a fine and memorable man..
Sad to have him leave us..
You obviously know more about him then most all of us on OPP so I can see why you posted this then. I know nothing of the man aside from what you posted here. So your son is a lawyer then I can see how your family is all screwed up then. My nephew is a lawyer as well.
Jul 17, 2019 16:05:11 #
bahmer wrote:
You obviously know more about him then most all of... (show quote)
You have a lawyer in your family and yet you seem to resent that they have a place in our society..
so you Know that most lawyers never argue a case in court like Parry Mason..
My son was in private practice for years in NJ, lic in NY and Pennsylvania as well, argued case in front of the appellate court in NY 3 times, first time one of the judges asked if he was old enough to shave..
Won 2 out 3..
As I bragged several times, was Attorney of the year in Minnesota for his corner of the legal world..
Now in full disclosure, only a week or 2 after award night he went and presented a case to the 5th appellate court down in Texas and lost.. a case backed by videl and he was sure it was a winner..
Still a gloomy gus about that one..
everyone he has lost , seems like a life ending disaster for him..
He is good but wish he had a nice non-stress job rather then one he sees as life altering..
Jul 17, 2019 16:10:59 #
permafrost wrote:
You have a lawyer in your family and yet you seem ... (show quote)
My nephew represents Cummings Diesel, Harley Motor Cycles, And I believe Winnebago Motor homes as well as Ford Motor Company on the west coast and is a partner in some law firm out there.
Jul 17, 2019 16:29:31 #
bahmer wrote:
My nephew represents Cummings Diesel, Harley Motor Cycles, And I believe Winnebago Motor homes as well as Ford Motor Company on the west coast and is a partner in some law firm out there.
Sounds like a good gig. tell him congrats from a left wing nut..
Jul 17, 2019 16:37:04 #
lpnmajor
Loc: Arkansas
slatten49 wrote:
John Paul Stevens: Canny Strategist and the ‘Fines... (show quote)
Yep, the last of the old breed who put honor above politics, oath of office above ideology, and justice above legacy.
Jul 17, 2019 16:37:44 #
permafrost wrote:
Sounds like a good gig. tell him congrats from a left wing nut..
He and his wife are dyed in the wool republicans.
Jul 17, 2019 16:49:36 #
bahmer wrote:
He and his wife are dyed in the wool republicans.
It matters nought if the intent is pure..
Jul 17, 2019 16:54:47 #
slatten49
Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
lpnmajor wrote:
Yep, the last of the old breed who put honor above politics, oath of office above ideology, and justice above legacy.
Those are close to my thoughts, Doc.
Jul 17, 2019 16:59:20 #
slatten49
Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
bahmer wrote:
He and his wife are dyed in the wool republicans.
In good-natured jest, my friend, here's one for the two of 'em:
'When Reality Sets In'
President Trump saw a young boy at the side of the road with a bunch of kittens. He had his driver pull over and got out to talk to the boy. “Those sure are cute kittens, which party do they support?” he asked.
The boy answered “I think they are republicans."
Trump got all excited and arranged to have Fox News come out a week later and see him with a photo-op to boost his ego. The President walked up to the young boy and asked, “How are all my little republicans doing today?”
The boy responded, “they are no longer republicans.”
President Trump replied, “But last week you said they were republicans.”
The young man replied, “Yes I did, sir, but now their eyes have opened!”
Jul 17, 2019 17:40:33 #
slatten49 wrote:
In good-natured jest, my friend, here's one for th... (show quote)
Sp when were your eyes opened or have they always been open.
Jul 17, 2019 17:56:55 #
slatten49
Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
bahmer wrote:
So, when were your eyes opened or have they always been open.
Even when my eyes are open, I'm often in the dark.
In that case, I simply turn to snacking.
Jul 17, 2019 18:00:05 #
slatten49 wrote:
Even when my eyes are open, I'm often in the dark.
In that case, I simply turn to snacking.
In that case, I simply turn to snacking.
Methinks that you were born snacking.
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