Justice Ginsburg
Steven Jamar
stevenjamar at gmail.com
Fri Feb 6 04:48:41 PST 2009
I thought it was that he wanted to hang on until he became the longest
serving justice or chief justice (or both maybe?) ever -- still ego-
driven, but not so much about his sense of his own indispensability,
perhaps.
My "data" in support of this -- some speculation I read in a newspaper
when he got ill.
Steve
--
Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017
Associate Director, Institute of Intellectual Property and Social
Justice http://iipsj.org
Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8567
http://iipsj.com/SDJ/
"Politics hates a vacuum. If it isn't filled with hope, someone will
fill it with fear."
Naomi Klein
On Feb 6, 2009, at 12:24 AM, Sanford Levinson wrote:
> It's his refusal to resign when, at the age of 79 or 80, he's
> diagnosed with a form of cancer that requires him to undergo the
> ordeal of chemotherapy. He was either in denial about the
> seriousness of his situation or narcissistic about his
> indispensability to the Court. (One might also simply say that he
> was all too human.)
>
>
> Sandy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: hamilton02 at aol.com <hamilton02 at aol.com>
> To: Sanford Levinson; RJLipkin at aol.com <RJLipkin at aol.com>; jca at stanford.edu
> <jca at stanford.edu>; CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu <CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu
> >
> Sent: Thu Feb 05 19:48:32 2009
> Subject: Re: Justice Ginsburg
>
> Sandy-- I'm sincerely curious here. What is "Rehnquist-like
> denial/narcissism?"
>
> Marci
>
> Marci A. Hamilton
> Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law
> Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
> Yeshiva University
> 55 Fifth Avenue
> New York, NY 10003
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sanford Levinson <SLevinson at law.utexas.edu>
> To: RJLipkin at aol.com; jca at stanford.edu; CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu
> Sent: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 4:31 pm
> Subject: Re: Justice Ginsburg
>
> From my perspective, this is just more fodder for the need either to
> elininate life tenure (though Justice Ginsburg wouldn't be out under
> my
> preferred 18-year term) or to adopt the Carrington-Cramton proposal
> whereby a new justice would indeed be appointed at the end of an
> 18-year term and the post-18 year justice would be able to sit on
> circuit, as Justice O'Connor is now doing, or fill in when a Supreme
> is
> forced to recuse him/herself for any reason, including illness. Or,
> of
> course, we could adopt a version of the 25th Amendment to apply to
> judges and forestall Rehnquist-like denial/narcissism.
>
> Sandy
>
>
>
> From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
>
> To: jca at stanford.edu ; CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu
>
> Sent: Thu Feb 05 15:16:06 2009
> Subject: Re: Justice Ginsburg
>
>
>
> Wherein lies
> the authority behind these practices? Or are they merely practices
> derived
> ad hoc? More importantly, what happens if a Justice has a prolonged
> illness rendering h
> im or her unable to perform judicial functions, but
> who
> insists on remaining on the Court or is in a permanently comatose
> state leaving no instructions concerning prolonging (or not) his or
> her
> life?
>
> These seem
> like a critically important issue raising problems that cry out for
> comprehensive legal solutions.
>
> Bobby
>
> Robert Justin
> Lipkin
> Distinguished Professor of Law
> Widener University School of
> Law
> Delaware
>
> Ratio Juris,
> Contributor:
> http://ratiojuris.blogspot.com/
> Essentially Contested
> America, Editor-In-Chief http://www.essentiallycontestedamerica.org/
>
>
>
> In a message dated 2/5/2009 4:04:31 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> jca at stanford.edu writes:
> It's not
> rare for one or more justices to be unable to vote, usually because
> they have
> recused themselves (stock holdings, the Justice or a relative is
> somehow
> involved in the case) but also because of illness. A majority of
> the
> Justices who remain is required for a decision; an equally divided
> vote always
> results in "affirmed by an equally divided Court" with no
> precedential effect,
> no matter what the reason. A Justice going into the hospital is by
> no
> means unprecedented. It's not like the President where someone has
> to
> have the nuclear codes. And Chief Justice Rehnquist went through a
> long
> illness -- diagnosed20in Oct. 2004, missed 44 oral arguments,
> died in
> office in
> Sept 2005. He was also hospitalized earlier for a back problem and
> addiction to painkillers.
>
> At 11:53 AM 2/5/2009, RJLipkin at aol.com
> wrote:
>
> While I'm sure we're all
> hoping for Justice Ginsburg's successful surgery, her situation
> raises a
> host of issues about how the Court functions when a Justice is
> unable to
> perform his or her responsibilities. Are there are specific rules
> governing this matter? Am I right in saying an 8-3 decision
> stands
> as
> law? What happens in split decisions? Finally, what if a Justice
> cannot perform his or her functions and is unable to express a
> decision to
> resign? Any information on these issues would be
> appreciated.
>
> Bobby
>
> Robert Justin
> Lipkin
> Distinguished Professor of Law
> Widener University School of
> Law
> Delaware
>
> Ratio Juris, Contributor: http://ratiojuris.blogspot.com/
> Essentially
> Contested America, Editor-In-Chief
> http://www.essentiallycontestedamerica.org/
>
>
> Great
> Deals on Dell Laptops. Starting at $499.
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