http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20081129/4930cc50_3ca6_1552620081129-1544254494Justice Stevens shows no signs he is ready to quitBy MARK SHERMAN (Associated Press Writer)
From Associated Press
November 29, 2008 11:30 AM EST
WASHINGTON - Only one Supreme Court justice was at Chicago's Wrigley Field to see Babe Ruth supposedly point to the spot where he would hit a home run in the 1932 World Series.
John Paul Stevens is old enough that he worked for a year at the court as a young man before three of his fellow justices even were born. Stevens doesn't mind calling attention to his age (88), even though liberal interest groups prayed regularly over the past eight years for his continued good health.
No one thought Stevens would retire from the Supreme Court while George W. Bush was president. But now that Bush's successor has been elected, the only question being asked about the court's oldest and longest-serving justice these days is not can he hang on, but when might he leave.
After nearly 33 years on the court, there is no clear answer.
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Stevens already has hired the law clerks who would begin work in October 2009, one sign - though not conclusive - that he plans to serve at least until June 2010.
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"He's responsible enough and selfless enough not to hang on until he's incapable of doing the job," said University of Oklahoma law professor Joseph Thai, a clerk for Stevens in 2000 and 2001. "I've heard he's asked someone on the court to let him know, if he doesn't realize it himself, if he ever gets to that point."
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Stevens also wrote a fierce dissent in Bush v. Gore, the case that helped seal the 2000 presidential election for Republican Bush. "I think one reason he didn't retire was that he didn't want the legacy of Bush v. Gore to extend to his replacement," Thai said
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