Justice Ginsburg hints there may be a Supreme Court vacancy "soon"

[Ogre Mage]

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031303431.html

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I wonder if Republicans will even put up much of a fight on this.

[RosettaStoned]

Thats exciting news!

[Sam Spade]

lol - "soon" could be five years in the Justices' minds.

[Holmes]

Hoping for it to be Scalia or Thomas or any other freedom hating justice. Expecting it to be Ginsburg or Souter.

[Torie]

It's probably Souter. He hasn't hired clerks yet for next term. But then, maybe not.

[Downwinder]

Remember, Justice Ginsburg has a close relationship with Justice Scalia, who is also getting on in years.  Maybe Scalia has divulged something to Ginsburg.


One can dream....

[RosettaStoned]

Why would'nt it be Ginsburg?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

OK, the media's reading too much into this one.  I think she was just saying that some justices are old.  I don't think it was a hint at anything.

[memphis]

Remember, Justice Ginsburg has a close relationship with Justice Scalia, who is also getting on in years.  Maybe Scalia has divulged something to Ginsburg.


One can dream....

Scalia's way too political to choose to be replaced by Obama. Short of medical emergency, he's staying put until at least the next GOP president.

[Torie]

Remember, Justice Ginsburg has a close relationship with Justice Scalia, who is also getting on in years.  Maybe Scalia has divulged something to Ginsburg.


One can dream....

Scalia's way too political to choose to be replaced by Obama. Short of medical emergency, he's staying put until at least the next GOP president.

Scalia had better drop about 75 pounds then. His blood sugar level must suck for starters.

[Downwinder]

Justice Stevens looks like he is in better health than Justice Scalia!

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Justice Stevens looks like he is in better health than Justice Scalia!

Not really.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Stevens has said that he would have retired a while ago if they had the workload that they used to. Also, he wasn't the biggest fan of Bush.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I'm thinking that, assuming everyone stays healthy, we'll see Stevens, Souter, and Ginsburg all retired by June, 2011.  Kennedy could possibly leave by 2013; likewise with Breyer if Obama wins.  Scalia won't leave until there's a GOP President, same for Thomas.  Roberts and Alito are staying for 25-30 more years.

[Brittain33]

I went looking for recent pictures of Scalia and saw that Barney Frank outright called him a homophobe yesterday.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jen6BPOfPqub26xNdot9a2iPPomAD974267O0

[Associate Justice PiT]

     We all knew Ginsburg was going to retire.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I went looking for recent pictures of Scalia and saw that Barney Frank outright called him a homophobe yesterday.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jen6BPOfPqub26xNdot9a2iPPomAD974267O0

Because he dissented in a court case?  Look, I'm against gay marriage, but I'll be the first to say that it's a state's right - if a state allows gay marriage, I fully support that as that state's right.

State gay marriage bans aren't illegal, in my opinion.  It has nothing to do with gay marriage.  Heck, if a state wants to ban ALL marriages, I'd say it's their right to do that.

[Brittain33]

Because he dissented in a court case?  Look, I'm against gay marriage, but I'll be the first to say that it's a state's right - if a state allows gay marriage, I fully support that as that state's right.

State gay marriage bans aren't illegal, in my opinion.  It has nothing to do with gay marriage.  Heck, if a state wants to ban ALL marriages, I'd say it's their right to do that.

I agree that judges have a right to state their views and the office merits some basic respect.

But on this case, Scalia isn't judged on how he would rule on gay marriage, but based on his dissent in the sodomy repeal in Lawrence v. Texas, in which he claimed that the court was taking sides in a culture war by supporting the homosexual agenda. He either gave a speech or made a point of reading his dissent out loud after the case because he felt so strongly about it. The guy really does hate gays, a kind of scorn that is not uncommon for people of his generation but which has become less tolerated in the workplace and polite society since then.

I would never, ever say someone is a homophobe just because they opposed gay marriage; not even on the sole basis that they opposed gay marriage from a position of power. If you rant about the homosexual agenda and us pushing our lives onto everyone, when we should just go away and live second-class lives and not try to change sodomy laws because otherwise we're promoting a "culture war," you've got a problem. Unless you're on the Supreme Court, in which case you're the problem of the rest of us.

[Ogre Mage]

Scalia also dissented in Romer v. Evans in 1996.  The case involved a Colorado law which specifically excluded gays and lesbians from protection under state and local anti-discrimination laws.  The Court struck it down 6-3, with Justices Kennedy and O'Connor joining the Court's center-left bloc.  Scalia, however, wrote a dissent comparing homosexuality to murder, polygamy and cruelty to animals:

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http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=U10179

[Landslide Lyndon]

Scalia also dissented in Romer v. Evans in 1996.  The case involved a Colorado law which specifically excluded gays and lesbians from protection under state and local anti-discrimination laws.  The Court struck it down 6-3, with Justices Kennedy and O'Connor joining the Court's center-left bloc.  Scalia, however, wrote a dissent comparing homosexuality to murder, polygamy and cruelty to animals:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=U10179

Find the differences with Rick Warren's sermons.

[Brittain33]

Secondly, gays are not "second class citizens" and never have been.

Last time you were corrected on this, when you said any same-sex couple could go to a lawyer and get papers giving all the rights of marriage, you ignored it and kept going. So does one need to point out the laws that ban gays from adopting children, serving in the military, or having our relationships recognized for legal purposes? I paid an extra $1,000 in income taxes this year because my partner of 13 years is lucky enough to get health care benefits through my work. Unlike with a couple whose marriage is recognized federally, his insurance is considered income for me that I must pay taxes on. We can be compelled to testify against each other in a court of law. We're going to be driving through Virginia later this year, and any hospital employee can legally treat me as a stranger in case of an accident, even though his nearest blood relative is 2,000 miles away.