Friends Speculate Justice Stevens Wants to Set Court Longevity Record
Justice John Paul Stevens will turn 89 years old in about six weeks, but he shows no signs of slowing down—or retiring.
He plays tennis and golf, and appears to enjoy his work and influence on the U.S. Supreme Court, Legal Times reports. He wrote the majority opinion in Wyeth v. Levine holding that drug labeling laws don’t pre-empt state lawsuits. And he dominated oral arguments in a case seeking to require recusal of a state justice who received $3 million in campaign donations from a corporate chief executive, the story says.
Bill Barnhart, a former Chicago Tribune columnist who is writing a Stevens biography, told Legal Times that Stevens “is in another ascendancy, like after Bush v. Gore,” the decision that decided the 2000 election. “I see no diminution in his abilities,” Barnhart said.
Some of Stevens’ friends believe he hopes to remain on the court through part of 2011, enabling him to become both the longest-serving and oldest justice to serve on the court.
