Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens refused to vouch for the integrity of his colleagues on the court when asked about the United States Supreme Court ruling in Bush vs Gore (2000).
“I don’t know,” Stevens answered today when asked if “politics played a part in the majority’s decision.” The audience, at the American Law Institute annual meeting today, laughed and applauded.
Then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Justice Antonin Scalia comprised the majority in that case.
Stevens’ demurral gives fodder to defenders of President Obama and his health care law. Sensing that oral arguments had gone badly for the Obama adminstration, Democratic pundits have attempted to portray the court as a political court biased against Obama.
Kennedy, Thomas, and Scalia are still on the bench and participated in the Obamacare case.
