Thursday, April 16, 2009

Whither Souter?

Legal insiders are looking at the tea leaves and are becoming convinced that Justice Souter will be retiring from the Court. The evidence? He has yet to hire clerks for the coming term: Concurring Opinions

Above the Law is reporting that Justice Souter has not hired clerks for the upcoming Term. While he is typically the last Justice to hire clerks, this is late even for him. This fact, combined with what I'm hearing from other people who probably know what they are talking about, convinces me that unless something extraordinary occurs in the next two months, he is retiring in June.

Speculation as to a replacement will naturally fall on the left side, since Souter was a reliably liberal vote. There will be no change in the Court's 5-4 voting patterns, and no big loss from my perspective. His opinions were some of the least convincing, and obfuscatory, that I read in law school. 

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