So Long, John Paul Stevens
Many of us were saddened to hear of the retirement of US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. In no way am I qualified to comment on the breadth of his career and the numerous positions he took on the thousands of cases he heard over 35 years on the bench. I will, however, mention three aspects of his legacy that affect every one of our lives:
1) An ardent supporter of free speech, even in the toughest of circumstances, Stevens eventually drew the line at the idea that corporations proposed to use First Amendment protection to defend making donations to political candidates, in which he affirmed ideas that I wrote here on campaign finance reform. Earlier this year, the US Supreme Court announced that it had found major provisions in such reform to be unconstitutional, paving the way for corporate and union money to mute the voices of individual citizens like you and me. Stevens, to his credit, supported the minority opinion opposing granting corporations the right to exert extreme pressure on the political process — at the expense of human voters.
2) Early in his career, Stevens had favored the death penalty. He was nominated to the Court by Gerald Ford in 1975, largely based on his conservative views, e.g., his stance pro capital punishment that he held at the time. But later in his life, he came to realize that state sponsored killing is wrong, and that the US should abandon its place as one of only a handful of countries that still executes people. He was particularly instrumental in striking down death penalty sentences of juveniles.
3) Stevens favored limiting presidential powers. But he had his work cut out for him in dealing with the G.W. Bush administration, which had so clearly run roughshod over our Constitution.
As perhaps the most famous example, when Bush drew fire — even from conservatives — for his push for some of the most aggressive provisions of the Patriot Act, he replied, “I don’t give a goddamn. I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.” “But Mr. President,” begged one aide in the meeting , “there is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.” “Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush retorted, screaming at the aide. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
Fortunately, some of us — John Paul Stevens among the best — do not see it quite that way. I’m one of many millions of Americans who thank for your service, sir. You’ll never be forgotten.
Not true: http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml
It looks like this link is dead. Can you supply another one? I’m curious to know what’s not true. I have to think that was at least something I wrote there was true, but hey…
Though I haven’t always agreed with Stevens, his stance on free speech has been a profound plus for Americans. Bureaucracy today continually creates policy within its self that only addresses its own perceived realities; this is the problem with government agencies today. We need real people on the Supreme Court who understand the Constitution and support it.
Well not that I was a big fan of GW Bush, but our current president seems just as determined to run roughshod over the constitution….just in different ways.
Craig are you the author of this blog post on Justice Stevens? New to this site, I’m interested in energy technology and though I have my political opinions, which (thankfully) have evolved over the years – I’m more interested in not knowing the political opinions of people as it can create tension in progressing together towards a common cause of better energy technology making it to the market place. That said, maybe we should be factoring in people’s political stances as they may be opposed to ours and advancing our energy technologies? Perhaps this is a good place to discuss the ever increasing hot topic of politics and energy technology. I’m thinking of certain entertainers whose politics have worked their way into their careers and the effects. Are people aligning with like minded inventors? Is personal politics going to be a unpleasant but necessary ‘evil’ we must be prepared to deal with? I’m here to learn and reply to others opinions on this and future topics. – Thank you.
Ah, I see you are the author Craig. I’ve been on the site reading past blogs. I’m learning a lot and look forward to growing with ya ‘all. Peace.