[Rehnquist's death] is unlikely to make a lot of difference in the court, ... But over the long term, by replacing Rehnquist with another conservative, you lock in the court for 20 years. |
And then the question becomes, can the guidelines in general be maintained or will the guidelines be thrown out? And we then go back to the regime that existed before the guidelines under which judges had tremendous sentencing discretion. That's another big question in this case. |
But there is the very deeply held belief in the court that they do nothing that gives the appearance of impropriety. And I think in this case, Cheney may have gone over the line by inviting him [Scalia] down to hunt. Scalia, in a reflective moment, may be thinking, 'I shouldn't have done that.' |
For better or worse, the issue of abortion seems to be the one on which the Supreme Court is judged more than any other. |
I think if, Kerry wins there's a reasonable chance that you might see Justice Stevens step down, ... And if Bush wins, I think there's a reasonable chance you'd see the chief step down. I think we're getting close to it. |
I think there you're going to get a measure of what seems to have been over the last few years an increasing skepticism at the center of the court over the death penalty, over the way the process works in the lower courts and in the state courts and whether the machinery of death, as justice [Harry] Blackmun once called it, is really working the way we want it. |
I think we can be pretty darn sure he's not another Scalia. |
If he ever thought about putting forward a hard-nosed conservative, in the wake of Katrina and the negative publicity he's received, this is not the time to pick a political fight. |
It sounds great from an institutional standpoint. Maybe the Court could do a better job of persuasion. But it won't come overnight. If Roberts leads by example and writes clearly and talks to his colleagues, it may happen. |
It will be more chaotic than an ordinary term. It adds an extra layer of difficulty for Roberts coming in as the new chief. |
Liberals, the moderates and conservatives on the bench have been feeling out Chief Justice Roberts to see ... what kinds of arguments appeal to him, what kind of person is he. |
Most of the cases they work on are boring from a layman's point of view, but important, and ferocious, from an economic point of view. |
She doesn't give much guidance to other courts in her rulings, there's a lack of consistency, distinctiveness, ... Often it seems her opinions are too narrow, reflecting only how it strikes just Justice O'Connor, what she personally thinks. |
She doesn't give much guidance to other courts in her rulings, there's a lack of consistency, distinctiveness. Often it seems her opinions are too narrow, reflecting only how it strikes just Justice O'Connor, what she personally thinks. |
She is arguably the most influential woman in the United States, ... Closed Chamber: An Inside Account of the Supreme Court. |