CNN is reporting this morning that Supreme Court Justice David Souter will retire at the end of the current session in June. Souter was appointed to the bench in 1990 by the first President Bush, but has been a rather reliable liberal jurist, even going so far as to vote against Bush's son in the 2000 presidential election case.
More from me later, but two quick things:
1. This will not change the balance of the court all that much. As I said, Souter is a left of center jurist and it is assumed President Obama will appoint someone of the same philosophy.
2. Confirmation hearings will be interesting. With 60 members in the Senate (assuming Al Franken gets seated before a nominee is named), the Democrats have the votes to stop any Republican filibuster IF Senate leaders are able to keep conservative Democrats from balking at whoever Mr. Obama nominates.
