Bill Clinton urges Obama to think young for Supreme Court
While playwright George Bernard Shaw argued youth is wasted on the young, former President Bill Clinton on Sunday urged President Barack Obama to put youth high on the list of attributes for the next United States Supreme Court nominee.
“I’d like to see him (President Barack Obama) put someone in their late 40s or early 50s on the court and someone, you know, with a lot of energy for the job,” Clinton said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Liberal Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, one of the oldest and longest-serving justices in history, announced earlier this month he would resign. Stevens celebrates his 90th birthday on April 20.
Clinton, 63, said he would enjoy sitting on the high court, but at his age did not think it would be a good idea and besides he loves the humanitarian work he is doing.
And he suggested that his wife, 62-year-old Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose name has been bandied about for a seat on the high court, would also “advise the president to appoint someone 10, 15 years younger.”
The former president, who served two terms during the 1990s, appointed two associate justices to the Supreme Court: Stephen Breyer at age 55 and Ruth Bader Ginsburg at age 60. John Roberts Jr., the current chief justice, was appointed by President George W. Bush at 50.
Photo Credit: Reuters/Yuri Gripas (Clinton speaking at symposium)
Busted at the U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court unveiled a white marble bust of the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who was remembered as an exceptional lawyer, a skillful judicial administrator and an avid tennis player.
The $50,000 marble portrait of the influential conservative jurist wearing his judicial robe will join the busts of 15 other former chief justices in a prominent hallway before the entrance to the courtroom. Rehnquist died from cancer four years ago after serving on the nation’s highest court for more than 33 years.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who once worked for Rehnquist as a Supreme Court law clerk and then succeeded him, and Justice John Paul Stevens, both described Rehnquist as a great chief justice at a special ceremony Thursday.
James Duff, a top aide to Rehnquist, recalled how the chief justice also wrote four books, played tennis and enjoyed watching sports — especially college football — and singing songs.
Duff said Rehnquist appreciated brevity and would have been particularly pleased the speakers at the ceremony had a five-minute limit.
Son James Rehnquist recalled that his father, formerly at a small law firm in Arizona, had become a top Justice Department attorney during Richard Nixon’s presidency.
He recalled how his father, drinking apple juice and eating vanilla wafer cookies at the family home in Virginia, broke the news to him in 1971 that Nixon would be announcing two appointments to the Supreme Court.
U.S. Supreme Court turns to question of beaches and hot dogs
For all practical purposes, it was like a day at the beach for the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday as the justices considered Florida’s program to bring in sand to save miles of eroding shorelines.
A lawyer for six homeowners in Florida’s Walton County argued the program resulted in a strip of state-owned sand between their property and the Gulf of Mexico, depriving them of their exclusive beach access and violating their rights.
The homeowners want the state to pay them undetermined compensation for the “taking” of their property. But some of the court’s liberals appeared skeptical of the argument.
“You didn’t lose anything,” Justice Stephen Breyer told D. Kent Safriet, the attorney arguing for the homeowners. “You didn’t lose one inch. All you lost was the right to touch the water.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked whether any other homeowners had objected to the program.
Several of the conservative justices, appearing sympathetic to the homeowners, asked a number of hypothetical questions about what the state could do with the new beach.
Chief Justice John Roberts wondered whether the homeowner would have the right to stop the state from putting a hot dog stand on the land.
Is the value of property only measured in dollars? Certainly there are other forms of harm that cannot necessarily be measured in dollars or inches. What kind of society do we live in where the wise arbitrators are unable to consider that which they cannot count or measure with a rule?.
Is Justice Stevens sending early warning signal?
U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has hired only one clerk for the term starting in October 2010, instead of the usual four, fueling speculation that he may be planning to step down next summer, the New York Times reports.
Stevens, 89, is the current court’s longest-serving member. Nominated by Republican President Gerald Ford, Stevens joined the high court in December 1975 and went on to become the leader of its liberal wing.
If the Chicago-born Stevens steps down, President Barack Obama would have his second opportunity to nominate a justice to the court.
Or maybe Stevens is keeping his options open and planning to hire more clerks later, the New York Times article said. But the newspaper notes that hiring decisions may be an early warning system for hints about the justices’ retirement plans.
It points out that Justice David Souter hired no clerks this spring, in what turned out to be an accurate signal of his decision to step down.
For more Reuters political news, click here.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Larry Downing (Justice John Paul Stevens sits for a photo inside the Supreme Court in Washington)
Obama your last Supreme Court Appointment is Void. Your Socialist Health-Care Bill is void. You, Obama, and your crew have created a Constitutional Crisis. Obama, who can you blame now?
Our Forefathers were brilliant. They wrote Article 2 Section 1 Clause 5 of the Constitution for Obama:
“No Person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the united States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;”
Obama 100% is not a “Natural Born Citizen.” Because of his father’s foreign citizenship. Obama has “dual allegiances” according to the Framers.
Obama can not be President. No how, No way! Enough Is Enough!
The Real Bosses of the U.S.A., “We the People” do not even know 100% if Obama the Traitor is even a U.S. citizen.
Obama is Guilty of Treason, Sedition, Fraud and many other crimes against “We the People”.
Obama’s Administration has now become a “House of Cards.”
“We the People” can no longer Tolerate Obama’s Treasonous Charade as Commander in Chief! Enough Is Enough!
Resign Now! Please leave. You are the Problem Obama. Don’t you have ANY shame? “We the People” will fix all Our problems. We are good people. We will NEVER give up Our God- Given Freedoms and Liberty.
Obama, you can never be the Legal President of the U.S.A. Ever!
Obama’s signature and FALSE Authority is NULL and VOID on ALL Executive Orders, Legislature, Treaties, Laws and Appointments.
“We the People” can NOT just pick and choose the parts of Law – “Our Beloved Constitution” – that we will follow or enforce.
It’s all or Nothing! The whole U.S. Constitution Matters!
Obama, you are an embarrassment! Your Authority is Fake!
Make it Easy Obama for “We the People” and Resign!
http://www.tomdavidd.com/blog/
“I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion.” –Thomas Jefferson
“God Bless America, but most importantly, America Must Bless God!”
“We now must call for the immediate resignation of Barry Soetero (AKA President Barack Hussein Obama) …..based on Incompetence, Deceit, Fraud, Corruption, Dishonesty and Violation of the US Oath of Office and the Constitution.” — Paul E. Vallely
http://standupamericaus.com/lincoln-reag an-dinner:33318
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqvCg2JAZ F4