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Jan Crawford Greenburg looks at the possible Supreme Court openings.

People keep assuming the elderly Stevens and Ginsburg will leave. And then there's the notion of "the eccentric David Souter, who's only 69, but who complains to friends that he hates Washington and just wants to flee home to New Hampshire, where he can wrap himself in scratchy blankets and sit by the fire reading books in his unheated cabin." Greenburg is skeptical:

Stevens is showing no signs of slowing down. He's as active as ever from the bench, peppering lawyers with astute questions. His colleagues say that in private, he's also as sharp as ever.

Same for Ginsburg, a cancer survivor who stirred retirement talk a couple terms ago when she fell asleep a time or two during an oral argument. When people see her for the first time, they exclaim how she's so petite and frail in her appearance. But she's always been petite and frail in her appearance.

She's focused and engaged during the arguments, asking questions and, as she did yesterday, giving assists to struggling lawyers who are withering under cross-examinations from more conservative justices....

And Souter, according to some of his colleagues, loves the work and may just be complaining to friends that it's Washington he finds tiresome, as part of his "I'm an eccentric New Englander" persona.

Yes, the pattern for the Justices has been to hang on as long as they can.

Full post as published by Althouse on November 11, 2008 (boomark / email).