Another political shocker from D.C.: Justice Souter calls it a career

Coming just three days after the stunning announcement by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) that he is returning to the Democrat fold after decades of being a voice of moderation in the Republican Party, another major departure just got announced. US Supreme Court Justice David Souter, picked 19 years ago by George Bush the Elder to succeed the late William Brennan, has officially informed the White House that he plans to retire from the court once the current term is over and a replacement has been chosen and confirmed.

Today President Barack Obama (D), handed his first chance to leave a decades-long mark on the law of the land far sooner than anyone anticipated, announced in a surprise appearance to the press (see The New York Times' story here) that he would seek an independent-minded person to fill Souter's seat, not necessarily a liberal such as Souter turned out to be...to the eternal dismay and rage of conservatives, who jeered Souter back in the day as an "empty suit" with no clear record indicating he would rule as they wished on key issues before the high court.

With only one African-American (Clarence Thomas) and one woman (Ruth Bader Ginsburg) currently on the court amid a sea of white male faces, and being himself African-American as well, Obama is under enormous pressure to pick a member of one or both of these two groups on his first nomination at-bat. While I admit I would dearly love to see a Supreme Court bench that, to use former President Bill Clinton's famous formulation, "looks more like America," I do not want ethnic/racial origin or gender to supersede legitimate qualifications for the job. To my mind, those are, in order: (1) broad and deep judicial experience at the federal level, either ruling from behind the gavel or arguing in front of it†; (2) abiding and faithful respect for the Constitution and all of its still-in-force amendments; and (3) the ability to strike a balance between honoring that original text and its authors' intent and the changing needs of the times...and of a nation and government grown far larger and more powerful than the Founders could even in their wildest dreams have foreseen.

Nor do I think the new justice should be ideologically canalized beforehand, as much as it would horrify me to see another Thomas, Alito or Scalia join the court. Supreme Court justices are supposed to be utterly impartial, basing their rulings solely on the Constitution, established law and precedent and the dictates of their own consciences, without regard to party or ideology...and the last Court's historic and heinous failure to do so in December of 2000 legitimized a stolen Presidency and its resultant eight years of evil and misrule. Mr. Justice Souter's successor will need all the freedom he or she can get to rule without being boxed in by either liberal or conservative expectations...even when that ruling is one I hate.

Choose very, very carefully, Mr. President; you will be writing our future with your choice.

†Some of your replies already suggest as candidates academics rather than actual jurists; while some law-school types under consideration may have served as judges/justices at one time, I'm holding out for someone with recent real-world court experience, under the rationale of "those who can, do; those who can't, teach." If they could really do such a good job running a court, why aren't they out ruling on the law instead of just teaching it to young mush-skulls (as the late Prof. Kingsfield would have put it)?

A happy birthday wish to an old friend in real-life...and (I flatter myself) ink-stained colleague

philfoglio celebrates his birthday today. Those of you who've read Girl Genius (and if you haven't, why the frak not?!? Go check it out now!) or his many previous works, or heard his voice on Nick "Smith" Pollotta's old Radio Adventures of Phil A. Delphia (he was the evil Dr. Salvatore, opposite Nick in the title role) will doubtless not be surprised to see Your Humble Correspondent celebrating his advent on this Earth.

But to me, he's more than just a fiendishly talented illustrator, writer and onetime voice actor; he's also a personal friend of many years. When I visited Chicago back in the summer of 1988 (at the spur-of-the-moment invitation of a pal in the travel industry with a couple of free airline tickets and a few days off), he graciously made me welcome in his home even after having pretty much invited myself to his annual July 4th cookout party...and even though I arrived long after everyone else but Nick had gone home, due to my inexperience with the local elevated transit system. He also has been encouraging to me in my own artistic development in our encounters at conventions over the years, and even let me beat him at a game of poker once. In short, he's just plain good people...and the fact that he has drawn and written some of my favorite graphic stories—such as his classic adaptations of the late Bob Asprin's Myth Adventures series, his own Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire and the definitely-not-family-friendly XXXenophile—is but phenomenally tasty icing on the proverbial seven-layer birthday cake.

So happy 53rd, Phil...and thanks for the memories, both in person and on paper. May your Bristol board always be fresh and your pen never dry out. And to his almost-as-gifted wife kajafoglio: take good care of him for us, hon. He's an irreplaceable treasure...but then I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that.

My own favorite song for today

As much as I enjoy Jonathan Coulton's randy tribute to springtime outdoor recreation, "First of May," or Julie Andrews' evergreen rendition of "The Lusty Month of May" from the original Broadway production of Camelot, the song that first leaps into my head every year when this date rolls around isn't either of those.

It's a song that I danced to with my Songbird the first year we dated, when we visited her alma mater, Bryn Mawr College in the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd, PA the weekend of their annual May Day celebration. Its original recording artist, Edwin McCain, performed it live for us during his concert there that balmy Sunday afternoon, and it has become the song I associate with her more than any other. (As gifted a songwriter as Edwin is, however, he was not this song's author, despite popular misconception; it was actually written by Diane Warren, who also wrote the song that became part of the soundtrack of Patch Adams and the opening theme of Star Trek: Enterprise, "Faith of the Heart.")

Here he is at another venue performing it...or you can listen to the original studio version, the one that moved me to tears when I first heard it on the radio in New York, NY (where I was then living) before I had even met the Songbird. And linked below are the lyrics.

Happy May Day, sweetie. Even with all the problems and the distance and everything else, six years later it's still true...
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