on the abortion executive order, and the way in which it was resolved and all difficult for him and, now, he says he was we expect the news conference, to announce his retirement and there is some speculation in democratic circles he might actually resign from congress, immediately. don t look for that to happen. we are being steered away from that but he got pressure from the president not to retire. and got phone calls from the democratic leaders, in congress, saying, don t announce your retirement, hang in there and keep up the fight, and, shortly, we expect that he will say, bye-bye at the end of his term. martha: you know, based on everything that you said, carl, and everything we have been watching play out with him, this has been a huge rollercoaster for him and has taken a tremendous toll, and took, you know, a lot of personal strength i m sure to get through all of this and as you pointed out, the tea party folks and others felt he turned his back on the pro-life movement an
clinton may decide to step down while barack obama is president and could only be assured of that, until 2012, you know, so they can get a liberal member of the court, as james pointed out, it will not swing the balance of the court. it would be a liberal replacing a liberal. and, therefore might not be quite as big a fight in the senate, but, very important to one of the liberal members of the court a liberal president is the one who names their successor. martha: yes, and the question as you pointed out, will be how liberal that person is, and that is the fight and the discussion that will ensue as we follow this, chris, thanks, glad you were able to step into the chair so quickly for juice don t go anywhere, chris, by the way! hang on one moment, he turns 90 on april 20th, a son and three daughters, john paul stevens does and in 1975 when he was nominated by president ford he was confirmed by the senate in a vote of 98-0. 98-0. in 1975. you now have 59 democrats in the
democrats heading into the next election and it will be interesting to so whether he moves to the left in the selection or might pick somebody who may not kick up such a fight in the senate, with someone in the center. martha: and whether he wants to focus his energies and his capital on somebody that might be problematic. and whether or not he, you know, how far to the left i geese hued be willing to go in the decision of who he picks. reporter: but, you know, one of the keys to all of this, martha, is that it is so political and john paul stevens, who as i say was appointed by republican jerry ford and certainly became a liberal justice, had made it clear, in the last year or last few months, anyway, that he want to retire while barack obama was president. why? because he wanted a liberal justice to replace him. and, so, clearly, some of the older members of the court, like stevens, like revue bader ginsburg appointed by bill
so, in short, a momentous occasion, any time you have a supreme court justice retire, it was bandied about and is not a complete surprise, it will occasion, as these things always do, a major battle for the president and his white house, on capitol hill when it comes time to nominate and confirm a successor. bill. bill: you gear up for the speculation about the successor, and the fight that will inevitably en issue after that. james, good information. from the north lawn, thanks for that. back to james with more in a moment and first, martha again. martha: let s go back to washington where chris wallace joins us. chris, as if the president didn t have enough on his plate. now they will designate a team to choose the successor to john paul stevens, tell us about, you know, what your reaction is to the announcement today. reporter: as james said it was not a surprise at all. in fact, last sunday, justice stevens, who is not considered in any way, shape or form a publicity hound, gave s
nominee, a very political decision, and, to a certain degree you get a sense of what the president wants to do, in the latter part of this year, as he heads towards the november midterm and a lot of liberals say although he was chosen as james pointed out by gerald ford, john paul stevens ended up being, perhaps, the leader of the liberal wing of the court and the person who spoke most aimpre aggressively for them and was the best at reaching out to moderates and conservatives on the other side of the court and trying to make degrees and there are liberals who say you ought to go for a more liberal person and take on that fight. particularly, since he still has 59 votes in the senate. which he may well not have after november. on the other hand, other people are suggesting, why not do more of a move like sonia sotomayor, more to the mainstream, not as much of a fight and you have a lot of big issues and you don t want another tough vote for the