Looking forward to a breather after the healthcare reform fight's over? Pffft! Dream on...Associated Press is reporting that "Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has hired fewer law clerks than usual, generating speculation that the leader of the court's liberals will retire next year."
"It seems to indicate that he probably won't go beyond the current term," says one clerk.
It's not much of a stretch seeing Stevens as the next Justice to step down -- he is 89 years old. And since he's the "leader of the court's liberals," this won't really be a "balance of the court" appointment. Like the replacement of David Souter, this won't be very likely to change the ideological bent of the court.
But, like the replacement of David Souter, that doesn't mean that the right -- especially the far right -- won't go completely goofy over it. Expect the same damned thing again; accusations of socialism and fascism, the Glenn Becks of the world crying over the dawn of eugenics and anti-white racism, the anti-abortion nuts and the Biblebangers who, in their delusional state, demand that a Democratic president appoint a radical right wing justice.
In other words, politics is going to stay stupid for a good long time. Get used to it.
