re: #308 jbarelli

Folks keep talking about the “balance” of the court. Personally, I think that the President is simply picking someone that shares his views.

When Justice Souter retired, President Obama nominated a moderate liberal. To keep the “balance” of the court, he should have picked a conservative, but he didn’t.

Now Justice Stevens is retiring, and President Obama is nominating another moderate liberal. All of a sudden, Justice Stevens has been magically transformed into the most liberal Justice since Thurgood Marshall and folks are demanding a liberal replacement.

Justice Stevens has voted with liberals in a number of cases, and with conservatives in others. He seems to keep an open mind and decide the case based on the facts.

I think that the President is simply picking people that he believes will do a good job and that share his basic judicial philosophy.

Some of your facts are just not accurate. Stevens is widely considered the most liberal justice of the court. See, e.g., here:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2150902,CST-NWS-stevens10.article

And Souter conservative? He is unanimously regarded as a blunder pick by Bush I, since he aligned himself with the liberal wing of the Court.

The Court has a 5-4 conservative majority, with Kennedy (not Souter) sometimes pulling a surprise.