the president planned to be speaking to the american people on the subject of the mining tragedy in west virginia, but now we expect of course we will hear from him in some form or fashion, or perhaps a favor statement, or what have you, on this subject as well. we do have the regs nation resignation letter that just stevens submitted to the president, it begins my dear mr. president, having concluded it would be in the best interest of the court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the court s next term, i shall retire from active service as an associate justice, effective the next day after the court rises for the summer recess this year, most respectfully yours, john paul stevens. of course this is not a tremendous surprise, jon. justice stevens had been hinting he was considering retirement, he had hired one law clerk where traditionally a justice who plans to stay on for the next term would hire four, former justices are entitled to
u.s. preem court appointed nominated i should say in 1975, by former president gerald ford, justice stevens announced he is retiring after the court completes its work this summer. let s talk about his legacy with diane marie amon, former clerk to justice stevens from 1998-1989. it s my understanding diane that it was telegraphed that he might be retiring when he only put forward the name of one clerk to nominate this time around as opposed to the usual four. that had everybody in washington saying he intends to step down. well, it did send washington aflutter, and his response was rather humorous, i think he said i m surprised everyone is surprised, i m no spring chicken, after all. no one in america really gets to know these supreme court justice, they are generally very private people. tell us about the man. well, i think the best way to describe the justice
he s going to look for somebody highly qualified and confirmable. i have to go back, i remember justice stevens when he was originally nominated, he had i think a one-day confirmation hearing, the national organization for women opposed him because as a seventh circuit judge, he had issued a ruling on a case involving flight attendants and discrimination with which they disagreed, and of course, justice stevens went on to become, at least in my book, one of the fouror foremost advocates and supporters of women s rights to serve on the court. so i would hope that they would not you know, in the years since wee taken this confirmation, and i think both sides have been guilty of totally politicizing it to the point that sonya sotomayor had to sit there and basically say all i do is call balls and strikes, which no one on the legal side believes that, and i hope we can get back to a more civilized tone in
that rise to the top happen to be two women. we ll watch and see, this may come fast and pretty furious. megyn, we ll see you in 44 minutes. i got to get to work! jane: see you. jon: let s talk about this nominating process with byron york with the washington examiner, susan estrich, also a fox news contributor is with us and susan brings an interesting opinion because she clerked for justice stevens. first of all, what would you suppose, susan, that the president is looking for as he considers replacing this long serving justice? well, i think he s looking for somebody who has strong opinions and is very smart and is confirmable. he no longer has the 60 votes supermajority, so i think to echo what megyn said, elena kagan, who happens to be an old friend of mine and someone i
you ll recall that justice stevens was the justice appointed right after watergate by the post watergate president ford, and in some ways he was put on the cord to court that could bring us together after another period of partisan division, and i hope that his replacement is able to fill that role as well as the other important roles that justice stevens has held on the court. jon: diane marie ammond who served an important role for one of the clerks for justice stevens, thank you. jane: another big story breaking in washington this hour. we re waiting to see congressman bart stupak, he s a michigan democrat what s come under intense fire for ultimately voting in favor of the president s health care reform plan, and he brought a whole block of votes with him. we re told he will announce he will not be running for reelection.