All
true, but it's also relevant in assessing these Souter words to recall that
he was nominated to succeed Justice Brennan after his retirement -- it's
just good form, and generally good politics too, to say kind words about
the person you hope to replace, and I'm sure that each Court nominee in the age
of Senate confirmation hearings has done a version of that (e.g., Thomas re
Marshall; Ginsburg re White). In Souter's case,
he reportedly became quite close and devoted to Brennan in his last years,
however, so words that may have been in part confirmation hearing platitudes
seem to have turned out to be, as their relationship developed, quite
heartfelt thoughts.
John
Q. Barrett
-----Original Message-----This is what Justice Souter said about Jusice Brennan in the course of his confirmation hearings:
From: Discussion list for con law professors [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Larry Sager
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 12:29 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Souter and Harlan
Justice Brennan is going to be remembered as one of the most fearlessly principled guardians of the American Constitution that it has ever had and ever will have. No one following Justice Brennan, absolutely no one, could possibly say a word to put himself in the league with Justice Brennan. All you can do is say what perhaps once Justice Brennan said, "I will do the best I can."
I wrote about this in a postscript to a a review of Robert Bork. "Back to Bork", NYRB October 25, 1990. The postscript contains some other statements of Souter as well, statements that were pretty clear harbingers of who Souter was.
--Larry Sager
At 03:40 PM 6/1/2003 -0400, you wrote:
I seem to recall that during his confirmation hearings Justice Souter said he most admired the second Justice Harlan. Can anyone confirm that? Has Souter ever expressed his admiration for Harlan since thaen?***********************************************
Professor David E. Bernstein
George Mason University School of Law
http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste
blog: http://bernstein.blogspot.com
My latest book, You Can't Say That!
The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties
from Antidiscrimination Laws, will
be published in October
***********************************************
