Corpus Juris Vol. VIII

After a brief respite, I am back with the latest round up of the blawgosphere’s must-read posts and articles:

• From the “elections have consequences” file, Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring from the Supreme Court of the United States . And while Stevens’s successor won’t change the balance of the Court, it is unquestionably a missed opportunity.
• Justin Driver dispels ” The Stevens Myth ” over at the New Republic . Money quote:

“If liberals have been disappointed with recent Court decisions, imagine how dreary constitutional conditions would be had Republicans competently selected justices to implement their preferred judicial vision.”

• NPR’s Nina Totenberg wonders whether Justice Stevens’s retirement will lead to a Supreme Court without a single Protestant justice :

“[S]ix of the nine justices on the current court are Roman Catholic. That’s half of the 12 Catholics who have ever served on the court. Only seven Jews have ever served, and two of them are there now. Depending on the Stevens replacement, there may be no Protestants left on the court at all in a majority Protestant nation where, for decades and generations, all of the justices were Protestant.”

• NRO’s Ed Whelan highlights one of my favorite quotes from Chief Justice John Roberts :

“I like my wine French, my beer German, my vodka Russian, and my judicial system American.”

• I am also quite fond of this recent quip by the Chief during a Q&A session at Indiana University (made after his speech):

“Someone once told me there were more than 100 law review articles criticizing my analogy [of judges to umpires]. Nobody likes to be told that the area they are studying is simpler than it looks.”

• Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor believes that in the future we will see fewer justices attending the president’s State of the Union speech .

“It is not much fun to go because you put on a black robe and march in and you’re seated in the front row, (you) put your hands in your lap and have no expression on your face throughout the proceedings. You can clap when the president comes in and when he leaves and that’s it. It’s very awkward.”

• The AP reports that President Obama’s Supreme Court short list includes Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Judge Diane Wood, and Judge Merrick Garland .
• Professor Orin Kerr has more on President Obama’s ” diverse short list .”
• Jan Crawford wonders whether President Obama wants a ” Supreme Court fight .”
• And lest there be any doubt, Justice Anthony Kennedy is the second most powerful man in the United States .