"Wes" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote:

And I think you're too quick to cross-identify those jurisprudential
doctines with politics. Politically conservative judges tend toward more
originalist interpretations of the Constitution, but not always. Some
favor
states rights, but not all of them. They *often* surprise, and anger, the
presidents who nominate them, with their decisions in particular cases.
And
so on.

Well I don't think David Souter is voting the Republican plank and he was
nominated by President Bush (41).

These judges are appointed for life and there is no real way to influence
them externally. I would suspect the biggest influence on them is each of
the other Justices.

If you watch c-span, you can often catch one of them addressing some
group.
It is always interesting to learn how they think about certain cases and
priciples of law.

Yeah, I wish I had time for more of that. Meantime, the book that Hawke
mentioned, _The Nine_, is a good read for anyone interested in the makeup of
the present Court. It's a combination of biographical info about them and
discussions about how they really operate on a day-to-day basis.

--
Ed Huntress