Justice Stevens Announces Retirement

Thirty-four years after taking his position on the Supreme Court, Justice Stevens, who turns 90 years of age on April 20, has announced his retirement today.  The text of Justice Stevens' letter to the president follows below.

My dear Mr. President:


Having concluded that it would be in the best interests 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 regular active service as an Associate Justice, under the provisions of 28 D.S.C. § 371(b), effective the next day after the Court rises for the summer recess this year. Most respectfully yours,

John Paul Stevens

Justice Stevens was appointed by President Nixon to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1970.  When Justice William O. (Wild Bill) Douglas retired a year after suffering a debilitating stroke in 1974, Attorney General Edward Levi proposed Stevens' appointment to the Court.  President Ford acted on Levi's advice and the Senate confirmed Stevens' appointment without controversy.  Justice Stevens took his position on the bench on December 19, 1975.   

As a justice, Stevens avoided simple conservative or liberal characterizations.  However, Justice Stevens most often was in accordance with the court's liberal bloc in those cases involving abortion, criminal law, civil rights and church-state relations.  As the Court moved more toward the right during the Reagan and Bush presidencies, Stevens appeared more liberal relative to the composition of the Court.  After Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito took the bench, Stevens was more frequently among the four liberal justices in dissent. 

Justice Stevens' retirement will not change the court's conservative-liberal split, where the president is expected to name a liberal-leaning replacement.  Toward that end, the leading candidates at present are Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 49, and federal appellate Judges Merrick Garland, 57, and Diane Wood, 59.