In 2007, Justice Stevens said that since Richard Nixon appointed Lewis Powell to the Court in 1971, "[e]very judge who’s been appointed...has been more conservative than his or her predecessor." Here's the list:
This pattern has moved the Court far, far to the right of where it was when Stevens first came to the Court 30+ years ago. Seven of the nine current justices were appointed by Republicans, including the Court's two most liberal members, Justice Stevens and Justice Souter. Even Clinton's two appointees were more conservative than their predecessors. For example, Justice Breyer, a liberal on the current Court, is far less liberal than his predecessor Justice Blackmun, a Nixon appointee. Perhaps the most dramatic shift to the right was when George H.W. Bush appointed arch-conservative Clarence Thomas to replace civil rights icon Thurgood Marshall.1971 Lewis Powell (Nixon) replaced Hugo Black (FDR)
1972 William Rehnquist (Nixon) replaced John Marshall Harlan II (Eisenhower)
1975 John Paul Stevens (Ford) replaced William O. Douglas (FDR)
1981 Sandra Day O'Connor (Reagan) replaced Potter Stewart (Eisenhower)
1986 Antonin Scalia (Reagan) replaced Warren Burger (Nixon)
1988 Anthony Kennedy (Reagan) replaced Lewis Powell (Nixon)
1990 David Souter (Bush I) replaced William Brennan (Eisenhower)
1991 Clarence Thomas (Bush I) replaced Thurgood Marshall (LBJ)
1993 Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Clinton) replaced Byron White (JFK)
1994 Stephen Breyer (Clinton) replaced Harry Blackmun (Nixon)
2005 John Roberts (Bush II) replaced William Rehnquist (Nixon)
2006 Samuel Alito (Bush II) replaced Sandra Day O'Connor (Reagan)
In any event, Souter's retirement at a time when the Democrats control the Senate would give President Obama a chance to interrupt this longstanding rightward shift. But given the current state of the judiciary – in which even Democratic appointees tend largely to accept conservative judicial philosophies, the liberal "bench" isn't very deep. I hope Obama finds a replacement at least as liberal as Souter.
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