'Writing for the four moderates on the Court'

Well, she was recommended to Clinton by Orrin Hatch.

Doesn't make her a moderate, but it was an interesting recommendation.

 

Hate that Stevens retired. He tried to keep the bastards honest.

 

I think that both sides have their moments of intellectual dishonesty. O'Connor was by far the most baldly results-oriented justice of my lifetime. Glad she's not there any more, though I hate the reason why.

Stevens has lived a fascinating life. But he let his World War II experience color his jurisprudence too much at times. Even in his younger days, there were times when his waxing poetic about the military was downright embarrassing. In particular, his writing in the flag-burning case makes virtually no pretentions of even having any grounding in legal reasoning.

 

Supreme Court nominations have always been politicized to some extent; it's unavoidable when one branch of government appoints and another branch (consisting of many members of the opposing party) has to confirm.

But I think a turning point came during the Robert Bork hearings in the 1980s. Since then, these hearings have taken on a very noticeable political edge. Any justice nominated by a Democratic President, regardless of their actual judicial record, is automatically a left-wing activist judge who legislates from the bench. Any justice nominated by a Republican President, regardless of their actual judicial record, is automatically a right-wing extremist who favor the corporations and wealthy and want to take away privacy rights. A confirmation hearing becomes yet another partisan pissing contest. And Senators take advantage of the chambers' rules to put "holds" on judicial nominations (though not any Supreme Court ones....yet) to keep them from getting a confirmation vote to extract something from the President or even just to make him look impotent.