Sunday, July 10, 2005

Supreme Court Speculation Fuels Rumors

AP reports The Supreme Court pulsed with retirement speculation Friday, with rumors focusing first on the ailing chief justice, then the oldest member, and even the tiniest justice.

  • The 80-year-old chief, William H. Rehnquist, has thyroid cancer. And though he's been working full-time at the court, he's noticeably frailer and it's widely thought he will step down.
  • Justice John Paul Stevens, who is 85 and healthy, may be going, the speculation went. Stevens is the court's liberal leader and would seem an unlikely prospect with a Republican in the White House and GOP-controlled Senate.
  • Next came hints that the real retirement would be that of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the petite opera lover President Clinton put on the bench in 1993.
I had not heard the Ginsburg rumor, but I did hear the other two. It seems Stevens health may have taken a down turn.

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