Justice David Souter Will Retire at End of Term

Associate Justice David Souter will leave the Supreme Court later this year, possibly even before the Court’s new term begins in October. Souter’s retirement surprised just about everyone outside the beltway. I personally thought that if anyone would retire this year, it would be Justice Ginsberg, not Souter, who is in relatively good health. Souter’s retirement was apperantly the worst kept secret in Washington, with Souter sending signals, subliminal signals, that he may be planning on retiring. The secret was confirmed last night by NPR.

I’m not going to engage in the traditional conjecture surrounding who the President will pick to fill the open seat. Instead, I will offer a word of warning. This is a political instance which could provide the GOP with an opportunity to crawl back into the game, so to speak. Obama will pick a liberal to replace the reliably liberal Souter, which means that every pro-life conservative will have ample opportunity to kick and scream over the nominee. If the GOP could defeat the Obama administration in the nomination process, it would go a long way to winning back influence before the 2010 election.