Word: souter
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...direction of the high court, there was little rejoicing at the White House. The departure last year of Justice William Brennan, who had been the leader of the court's liberal wing, tipped the balance and allowed Bush to install a conservative majority at last by appointing David Souter. Replacing Marshall will not have the same impact; it will mainly mean that what would have been 5-to-4 decisions are likely to be 6 to 3. But even so, the search for a successor to the court's only black justice could be a political minefield. "Choosing a brilliant...
...only racial pressures that the President will be feeling. Just as loud are cries from the right to seize this chance to target abortion. Already this term the court had grazed the issue by upholding the Administration's ban on abortion counseling in federally funded clinics. But though Souter joined in that vote, his views on a total ban on abortion are unknown, and Sandra Day O'Connor has implied a reluctance to toss out Roe v. Wade altogether. Thus pressure is building on the President to nail down an antiabortion majority once and for all -- or, says...
...what was still a liberal-leaning bench, he was so isolated that his clerks took to calling him the Lone Ranger. These days he no longer rides alone: he routinely joins a group that includes Reagan appointees Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O'Connor and Bush appointee David Souter. Having written only a few rulings since joining the court this term, Souter remains something of an , enigma; yet he has clearly provided the right wing -- spearheaded by Rehnquist and Scalia -- with a crucial fifth vote in a number of important cases in which his predecessor Brennan would almost certainly...
...those laws could provide the court with an opportunity to overturn Roe -- a prospect that seemed nearer than ever after last month's decision in Rust v. Sullivan. In that case, by a 5-to-4 vote in which Souter sided with the conservatives, the court ruled that doctors, nurses and other care providers at clinics that accept federal funds cannot even mention abortion to their patients. "I've never had much hope for this court," says Colleen O'Connor, public-education director for the A.C.L.U. "But I was never as dispirited as when it came down with the Rust...
Liberals can take heart in the tendency of some Justices to shift views during their years on the bench. Blackmun moved to the left from his first days on the court. On the whole, O'Connor has drifted toward the center. Souter, who voted the same way as O'Connor in dozens of cases this term, may yet do the same. But the possibility of gradual leftward movement is cold comfort to liberals who realize their two aging champions, Marshall and Blackmun, may eventually be replaced by George Bush appointees. And that would almost certainly turn the conservative bloc into...