How many Supreme Court Justices will announce their retirement Jan 21 once Obama wins?

[gmoney]

3? 4?

Maybe if we're lucky, Thomas, Alito, Scalia and Roberts will resign in protest

[terrya]

1. Justice Stevens deserves a well deserved retirement

And I've read that Justice Souter might be interested in leaving the Court.

[KansDem]

2. With the economy the way it is, maybe they'll be laid off? ...(nt)

[earth mom]

13. Some of the justices should have been fired for what they did in 2000.

:grr:

[Renew Deal]

3. I hope Scalia is replaced during a Democratic term.

That would be just perfect.

[yourout]

4. I really hope Obama get to pick a replacement for Scalia.......I don't care why.

[LynneSin]

9. I hope Obama gets to replace Clarence Thomas seat.....

that was Thurgood Marshall and to have someone like Thomas in that seat is like saying Sarah Palin is a good substitute for Hillary Clinton.

[WeDidIt]

5. Scalia hasn't been looking real healthy lately

and Roberts is upset his pay isn't high enough.

[msallied]

7. Sigh... we'll have probably another 30 years of John Roberts.

Let's hope he's very much out numbered.

[WeDidIt]

8. If Kennedy resigns and is replaced by a very left elaning justice

Roberts may resign because he doesn't want to preside over a liberal SCOTUS.

[msallied]

16. THAT would be great news!

[msallied]

6. Ginsburg is getting pretty old... she may be first.

Well her and Stevens.

[LynneSin]

11. I think her and Stevens will both step down at the same time

I wish the president could pick their own choice for Chief Justice. Roberts wouldn't lose his seat but relegated to just regular status

[Arkansas Granny]

12. Yes. Stevens is 88, Ginsburg is 75. It wouldn't be surprising to see them both retire soon.

[jesus_of_suburbia]

10. I don't know.. but I am SOOOO relieved it will be Obama choosing!

[SuperTrouper]

14. Ginsberg and Stevens will leave in 2009. Scalia will leave in 2010.

[Bake]

17. Bush marginalized Scalia by passing him over for Chief Justice.

Fat Tony was pretty pissed about that.

Bake

[NewJeffCT]

23. However, Scalia is enough of a partisan

that he'll attempt to hold out for as long as it takes to get another Republican president... in 9 years, he will still be younger than Stevens is now.

[still_one]

15. There is a real possiblity that scalia in the next 8 years

Obviously the most probable are Stevens, Breyer, and Ginsberg

[DangerDave921]

18. ZERO

I think we need to rethink how SCOTUS judges are kept on the bench for life. I don't think it serves any real purpose to have an 85-year-old judge on the court, especially when he's been on for 30 years. We need a fixed term. Maybe 15 years. And maybe a rotating basis of selecting so it's not the luck of the draw whether the president is R or D. Not a very efficient system.

[msallied]

20. The court is supposed to be immune from the whims of the current political climate.

[DangerDave921]

24. I understand that

But what we have now is exactly that - a political football every time a new judge is appointed. We've gone from evaluation of competency, experience, and temperament to a pure ideological tit-for-tat deal where it is nothing but a political issue. Roberts and Alito, for example, were both perfectly solid candidates based on the traditional analysis. But many Dems voted against them. And now Obama will appoint left-leaning judges whom RW'ers will oppose.

If we had a fixed term, and a rotational basis for appointing, it would remove SCOTUS from being a political animal. Of course this would require that the Constitution be amended.

[supernova]

19. Ginsberg really deserves the rest

she's been an absolute lioness.

:applause:

But she is 75 and a cancer survivor too. She's earned her rest.

We :loveya: Justice Ginsberg!

[Sebastian Doyle]

21. I'll bet Stevens has his letter already written

And Ginsberg is thinking about it.

I hope we do get rid of Fat Tony Scalia as well, but I'm sure he'll drink the blood of puppies or whatever else Satan requires of him to stay on the bench.

[last1standing]

22. Within the next four years we can count on at least three - possibly four.

Stevens, Ginsberg and Souter are all wanting to retire but have held on to see who will win this election. They are also three of the four most liberal voices on the court so a mcRacist win would swing the SCOTUS far to the right. Unfortunately, the fourth likely to retire is Breyer, the remaining liberal voice. This means that even with an Obama win, we pick up no conservative seats on the bench.

The bright side to this, possibly, is that while all four of these justices are considered liberal, really they are moderates according to today's standards. If Obama wins, gets a decent majority in the senate and feels free to move to the left, he could nominate true liberals who are more interested in preserving the Constitution than the status quo. It's a long shot but at least a possibility.

As for the remaining five conservatives on the bench, they were all nominated because of their fascist beliefs and their relative youth. None of them are likely to leave the bench before the next election in 2012 or even 2016 unless a repub is elected. Because of this it will be a stacked court of four liberals and five conservatives for at least another eight years unless one of the conservatives dies or becomes incapacitated.