NINOMANIA
:: A constitutional law blog by Scalia/Thomas fan David M. Wagner, M.A., J.D., Research Fellow, National Legal Foundation, and Teacher, Veritas Preparatory Academy. Opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect those of the NLF or Veritas. :: bloghome | E-mail me ::
:: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 ::
New book says Souter almost resigned after Bush v. Gore
If accurate, this means that a lifelong Republican, appointed by a Republican president, was "shattered" that a decision by his Court recognized the election of a Republican president (who happened to be the son of the one who appointed him).
Evidently Mr. Toobin's book is written for the kind of people who find Bush v. Gore not only wrong (lots of Supreme Court decisions are wrong) but so outrageously earth-shakingly regime-threateningly wrong that the only question to be asked is the state of one's emotional health in its aftermath.
Funny -- I know a lot of people who have other Supreme Court decisions to put in that category, but not Bush v. Gore. In fact, they tend to be decisions in which Justice Souter had a hand.
I also recall that when a group of public intellectuals wrote in First Things about the outrageous earth-shaking regime-threatening wrongness of certain other decisions, notably Planned Parenthood v. Casey, certain people were likewise "shattered" -- not at Casey, but at the fact of commentators questioning (quite that sharply) the Court. I hope those same people won't worry too much about Justice Souter's implied criticism of his colleagues. I don't think they will.
Are there other instances of a Justice being "shattered" by a result of the Court? Mr. Justice Frankfurter suffered a stroke shortly after Baker v. Carr, and had to retire. Baker, of course, began the mainstreaming of the idea that the Equal Protection Clause applies to voting -- an idea that led, ultimately, to the majority holding in Bush v. Gore....
:: David M. Wagner 5:35 PM [+] ::
...
If accurate, this means that a lifelong Republican, appointed by a Republican president, was "shattered" that a decision by his Court recognized the election of a Republican president (who happened to be the son of the one who appointed him).
Evidently Mr. Toobin's book is written for the kind of people who find Bush v. Gore not only wrong (lots of Supreme Court decisions are wrong) but so outrageously earth-shakingly regime-threateningly wrong that the only question to be asked is the state of one's emotional health in its aftermath.
Funny -- I know a lot of people who have other Supreme Court decisions to put in that category, but not Bush v. Gore. In fact, they tend to be decisions in which Justice Souter had a hand.
I also recall that when a group of public intellectuals wrote in First Things about the outrageous earth-shaking regime-threatening wrongness of certain other decisions, notably Planned Parenthood v. Casey, certain people were likewise "shattered" -- not at Casey, but at the fact of commentators questioning (quite that sharply) the Court. I hope those same people won't worry too much about Justice Souter's implied criticism of his colleagues. I don't think they will.
Are there other instances of a Justice being "shattered" by a result of the Court? Mr. Justice Frankfurter suffered a stroke shortly after Baker v. Carr, and had to retire. Baker, of course, began the mainstreaming of the idea that the Equal Protection Clause applies to voting -- an idea that led, ultimately, to the majority holding in Bush v. Gore....
:: David M. Wagner 5:35 PM [+] ::
...
