Up Close with Justice Stevens

April’s Third Branch – the newsletter of the federal courts, which judicial nerds like us wait anxiously for each month – featured an interview with Justice John Paul Stevens. Justice Stevens answered questions about his long tenure on the Supreme Court and his career prior to joining the Court. Stevens also discussed how the Roberts Court differs from the Rehnquist and Burger Courts. When asked about why, when Justice Stevens, first joined the Supreme Court, he was considered a moderate conservative and now he’s considered a liberal, Justice Stevens responded that, “There are more members of the court now who are not moderate conservatives.” Justice Stevens' remarks bear out the fact that the rightward tilt of the Court is not the product of liberal delusions, no matter how many times the right wing may claim that it is.