Litigation

Supreme Court Continues on ?Rightward March?

By Peter Hardin

When his successor dons the judicial robes after Justice John Paul Stevens retires, it is nearly inevitable that “the Supreme Court’s long march rightward…will continue.”

In the analysis of Bloomberg columnist Ann Woolner, Senate Republicans already would be plotting an all-out filibuster if President Obama were to nominate someone of this liberal a philosophy: opposing the death penalty; supporting abortion choice; favoring gay rights; advocating strict separation of church from state; and condemning presidential overreach even in wartime.

That captures Justice Stevens’ record in a paragraph, she writes, and Obama is unlikely to nominate anyone with that record for the vacancy.

To put things in perspective, Woolner reminds readers that Obama’s critics have labeled him a socialist, a radical, or worse.

But if he wins confirmation of a centrist for the high court, it would mark “a huge shift rightward” given Justice Stevens’ record and the court’s ideological polarization, she says.

As court-watchers handicapped who the president might pick, a new name was tossed into the mix by the Boston Globe. She is Martha Minow (photo at right), the Harvard Law School dean and someone who inspired then-law student Obama.

?When I was at Harvard Law School I had a teacher who changed my life ? Martha Minow,?? the newspaper quoted Obama as saying, attributed to an Obama campaign activist.

Meanwhile the National Bar Association, comprised predominantly of African-American lawyers and judges, called on Obama to select the nation’s first African-American female Supreme Court justice. The bar group is a partner of Justice at Stake.

The group urged in a press release the appointment of Judge Ann Claire Williams (photo at left) of the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. She was the first African-American named to the Seventh Circuit.

Gavel Grab features today a special update of media stories about Justice Stevens’ legacy, its impact on the court, and the upcoming nomination.

Full post as published by The Gavel on April 14, 2010 (boomark / email).