WASHINGTON - President Obama may get liberal Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court, but conservative swing-voter Anthony Kennedy says he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Justice Kennedy, who turns 74 this month, has told relatives and friends he plans to stay on the high court for at least three more years - through the end of Obama's first term, sources said.
That means Kennedy will be around to provide a fifth vote for the court's conservative bloc through the 2012 presidential election. If Obama loses, Kennedy could retire and expect a Republican President to choose a conservative justice.
Kennedy, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, has been on the court 22 years. He has become a bit of a political nemesis at the White House for his increasing tendency to side with the court's four rock-ribbed conservative justices.
Without naming Kennedy, Obama was unusually critical of his majority opinion in the Citizens United case, handed down last January. That 5-4 decision struck down limits on contributions to political campaigns as an abridgement of free speech.
Obama called the ruling "a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power ... in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans."
He was so angry that he took the unusual step of blasting the decision in his Jan. 27 State of the Union address, with Kennedy and five other justices looking on.
Showing posts with label potential retirement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potential retirement. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
After too much (tea) partying, Stupak retires
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who had a central role in the health reform fight as the leader of anti-abortion Democrats, plans to announce Friday that he will not run for reelection, a Democratic official said. Without Stupak on the ballot, the seat becomes an immediate pickup opportunity for Republicans.
"Now with health care done, he’s retiring," a friend said. "He has thought about retiring for the last three cycles, but was always talked into staying: to elect John Kerry to help end the war, to elect a Democratic majority to get health care done."
President Barack Obama called Stupak on Wednesday and asked him not to retire. Stupak, 58, also resisted entreaties from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the dean of the Wolverine State delegation.
Republicans immediately attributed Stupak's decision to step down as a direct consequence of his health care vote.
“After selling his soul to Nancy Pelosi, it appears that Bart Stupak finally found the courage to tell her no," said National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Ken Spain. "The political fallout over the Democrats’ government takeover of healthcare has put the political careers of many Democrats in jeopardy thanks in-part to Stupak’s decision to abandon his alleged pro-life principles."
From the Petoskey News Review:
...Stupak has become a symbol for critics of the overhaul. The Tea Party Express labeled him its No. 2 target for defeat after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
The group kicked off a $250,000 television and radio blitz in Stupak’s district Wednesday, ahead of rallies that began Thursday night and were continuing through the weekend.
“Bart Stupak has lost touch with the people of Michigan, and he has betrayed the public’s trust,” said Mark Williams, the group’s chairman.
Three little-known hopefuls are seeking the GOP nomination, and Stupak faced a primary challenge from a Democrat who is pro-choice on abortion.
Even so, Michigan’s 1st District is notoriously difficult turf for anyone trying to unseat the incumbent. Measuring 600 miles across, it takes in about half the state’s land mass — including the entire Upper Peninsula — and has no major media market. The largest city, Marquette, where Stupak was planning to officially announce his retirement later Friday, has about 20,000 residents.
Stupak has routinely won re-election by wide margins, defeating former state Rep. Tom Casperson with 65 percent of the vote in 2008, and said he was confident of prevailing again.
He acknowledged the criticism he received over the health care reform — including telephone threats to his office — had taken a toll, but said he had thrived during the debate. What wore him down, he said, was the grind of constant travel across his sprawling district.
"Now with health care done, he’s retiring," a friend said. "He has thought about retiring for the last three cycles, but was always talked into staying: to elect John Kerry to help end the war, to elect a Democratic majority to get health care done."
President Barack Obama called Stupak on Wednesday and asked him not to retire. Stupak, 58, also resisted entreaties from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the dean of the Wolverine State delegation.
Republicans immediately attributed Stupak's decision to step down as a direct consequence of his health care vote.
“After selling his soul to Nancy Pelosi, it appears that Bart Stupak finally found the courage to tell her no," said National Republican Congressional Committee communications director Ken Spain. "The political fallout over the Democrats’ government takeover of healthcare has put the political careers of many Democrats in jeopardy thanks in-part to Stupak’s decision to abandon his alleged pro-life principles."
From the Petoskey News Review:
...Stupak has become a symbol for critics of the overhaul. The Tea Party Express labeled him its No. 2 target for defeat after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
The group kicked off a $250,000 television and radio blitz in Stupak’s district Wednesday, ahead of rallies that began Thursday night and were continuing through the weekend.
“Bart Stupak has lost touch with the people of Michigan, and he has betrayed the public’s trust,” said Mark Williams, the group’s chairman.
Three little-known hopefuls are seeking the GOP nomination, and Stupak faced a primary challenge from a Democrat who is pro-choice on abortion.
Even so, Michigan’s 1st District is notoriously difficult turf for anyone trying to unseat the incumbent. Measuring 600 miles across, it takes in about half the state’s land mass — including the entire Upper Peninsula — and has no major media market. The largest city, Marquette, where Stupak was planning to officially announce his retirement later Friday, has about 20,000 residents.
Stupak has routinely won re-election by wide margins, defeating former state Rep. Tom Casperson with 65 percent of the vote in 2008, and said he was confident of prevailing again.
He acknowledged the criticism he received over the health care reform — including telephone threats to his office — had taken a toll, but said he had thrived during the debate. What wore him down, he said, was the grind of constant travel across his sprawling district.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Justice John Paul Stevens said to be retiring
The Supreme Court is about to undergo another generational transition, as the senior leader of its liberal wing, John Paul Stevens, is expected to retire this summer and be replaced by a junior justice appointed by President Obama.
For the moment, the front-runners for the nomination, assuming Stevens does announce his retirement after he turns 90 next month, are said by legal insiders to be U.S. Solicitor Gen. Elena Kagan, 49; Judge Diane Wood, 59, of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago; and Judge Merrick Garland, 57, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
For the moment, the front-runners for the nomination, assuming Stevens does announce his retirement after he turns 90 next month, are said by legal insiders to be U.S. Solicitor Gen. Elena Kagan, 49; Judge Diane Wood, 59, of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago; and Judge Merrick Garland, 57, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
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