They really did reshape the law in significant ways. So, in some ways, he doesn't need to be as hard-edged now as when he started. He has accomplished a lot, so it's less urgent for him to be pressing hard for change. |
They're not willing to subject their designation to the scrutiny of any outsider except under an extremely loose standard. |
Unlike with Kennedy, there was no honeymoon period for conservatives, ... Souter relatively quickly moved to the left. And there were explicit assurances from [then White House Chief of Staff John] Sununu that Souter was a conservative. |
When he started, the law was tilted in a liberal direction. Now it's not really tilted in a conservative direction, but it's more of a level playing field. |
When the history of the Supreme Court in the 20th century is written, there will be two great chief justices: Earl Warren and William Rehnquist. Both presided over courts that changed the law in a very dramatic way. |
When you put the memo together with his voting registration challenges and with his opposition to a local antidiscrimination ordinance in Phoenix, ... you get a picture of somebody for whom issues of racial justice and nondiscrimination were not a high priority. |
You'd have a fight about this among lawyers, |