Simple Man Politics

Well I was going to write some about the Republican Party effort to reinvent themselves and their intention to appeal to more independent, conservative democrat, and moderate Republican voters. However in recent hours leading up to the drafting of this blog post there has been an important piece of news out of the US Supreme Court. It appears that US Supreme Court Justice David Souter is due to retire from the bench in June after completing the courts business for the summer.

The information about Souter’s retirement has come to the public by means of a source inside the Supreme Court who asked to remain anonymous because the source was not authorized to speak for Justice Souter. As of yesterday evening Justice Souter had not released any statements either confirming or denying his potential retirement. It should be known though that for sometime Justice Souter has longed to return to New Hampshire and a life outside of Washington D.C.


There were many people who actually thought that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg would be the first to go especially after her fight with pancreatic cancer and the chemo that she undergoes regularly. However she has consistently stated that she plans to serve on the bench in the US Supreme Court until well into her 80’s. Justice Souter however is just 69 years of age with 19 years on the bench.

While this will be Obamas first Supreme Court appointment if Justice Souter does indeed retire it will not give the Obama administration any distinct advantage in the high court either politically or ideologically since Justice Souter is known to be one of three liberal justices that currently sit on the Supreme Court. What this means is that Obama would be replacing a sitting liberal justice with a justice of like mind.

Obamas advantage in getting his Supreme Court justice nominee confirmed is his party’s absolute power in the lower house of congress and his near filibuster proof majority in the upper house of the Senate. However there are still enough of Obamas detractors on the hill to make this potential appointment both painful and time consuming before there is a confirmed justice appointment to the Supreme Court. So what ever the outcome the status quo will remain unchanged at least for now.

That is all I have for you guys today but I will be back again next week. I hope you all have a superb weekend and CIAO4NOW!!!!!