Appointing a new Supreme

Barack Obama has his first opportunity to have long term impact on the US with the announcement by Justice Souter of his intention to retire from the Supreme Court. The Economist has a useful contextual piece.

Adam intends to post more on this later, but this article is good background and unlike some articles in US media it is not hung up on the culture wars issues.

One issue will be whether Obama takes the activist line or not, some of his campaign rhetoric implied a belief in interpreting the law to uphold a particular social view, empathy with the victim. Yet appointees have often turned out to be disappointments to those who appointed them. Souter is a case in point.

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