Word: souter
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...fight. And Clarence Thomas was nominated by George W. Bush's father, who backed him during a heated confirmation battle. On the other hand, court appointees have a long history of defying political expectations and going their independent way. President Bush's first nominee to the court was David Souter, now a stalwart of the court's "liberal" wing...
...just the ideological way everyone had hoped to avoid. The five conservatives--Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas--voted to issue the stay. The four liberals--Justices John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter--voted to let the counts...
...Connor, in particular, who could also retire during a Bush administration, is noted for her ability to side with the liberal-leaning Souter, Breyer, Ginsburg and Stevens on highly controversial issues like abortion while simultaneously maintaining one foot in the conservative camp, urging the right-of-center Justices to see their way to a compromise. And that's exactly the kind of presence GWB wants to perpetuate in the case of a vacancy...
...Liberals shouldn't expect too much, of course. Bush may not turn out to be as generous as his father, who delivered an inadvertent slam-dunk to liberals in the form of Justice David Souter...
...This is where the majority made a serious mistake - a failing the remaining four Justices (Souter, Breyer, Stevens and, most notably, Ginsburg) lambasted in their dissents. The majority chose December 12 arbitrarily, bypassing the more equitable date of December 18 for no reason other than to cut Al Gore's legal options short. As Justice Ginsburg wrote in her opinion, "The December 12 'deadline' for bringing Florida's electoral votes into safe harbor lacks the significance the Court assigns it. Were that date to pass, Florida would still be entitled to deliver electoral votes Congress must count unless both Houses...