Changes

John Paul Stevens

411 bytes removed, 14:32, July 18, 2019
Undo revision 1541149 by [[Special:Contributions/DCool1|DCool1]] ([[User talk:DCool1|talk]]) This was a good edit.
}}
}}
'''John Paul Stevens''' (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an Associate Justice of the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] (1975–20101975 - 2010); when he retired he was . Upon his retirement, the Court lost its only full veteran of the [[Armed Services]].<ref>Justice [[Anthony Kennedy]] once served in the National Guard in California.</ref> On April 9, 2010, Justice Stevens announced his retirement from the Court effective at the end of its October 2009 Term.
==Career==
 
In 1970, [[Richard Nixon]] appointed Stevens to the [[federal]] Court of Appeals for the [[Seventh Circuit]] in 1970, where he rendered a decision influential to the battle over the [[Equal Rights Amendment]]. President [[Gerald Ford]] appointed Stevens to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice [[William Douglas]] in 1975, and Stevens was easily confirmed.
===Political stance and notable opinions===
Though appointed by a Republican President, Stevens consistently voted with the [[liberal]] wing of the Court, particularly on [[abortion]], the [[Establishment Clause]], the [[Second Amendment]], and other social issues. A rare exception to his voting with the [[liberal]] bloc was on issues endangering patriotism, such as Justice Stevens' his vote to uphold laws against flag-burning. (Justice Stevens won a Bronze Star for his service in the [[Navy]] during [[World War II]], as described below.)
Justice Stevens is He was often unpredictable and can could express unusual views and has concurred or dissented in 1284 cases as of August 2007. For example, only Justice Stevens declared that it violated the [[Establishment Clause]] for a state to recognize that life begins at conception:<ref>''Webster v. Reprod. Health Servs''., 492 U.S. 490, 566-67 (1989) (Stevens, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part)</ref>
:I am persuaded that the absence of any secular purpose for the legislative declarations that life begins at conception and that conception occurs at fertilization makes the relevant portion of the preamble invalid under the [[Establishment Clause]] of the [[First Amendment]] to the [[Federal Constitution]]. This conclusion does not, and could not, rest on the fact that the statement happens to coincide with the tenets of certain religions, see ''McGowan v. Maryland'', 366 U.S. 420, 442 (1961); ''Harris v. McRae'', 448 U.S. 297, 319-320 (1980), or on the fact that the legislators who voted to enact it may have been motivated by religious considerations, see ''Washington v. Davis'', 426 U.S. 229, 253 (1976) (Stevens, J., concurring). Rather, it rests on the fact that the preamble, an unequivocal endorsement of a religious tenet of some but by no means all Christian faiths, 11 serves no identifiable secular purpose. That fact alone compels a conclusion that the statute violates the Establishment Clause.
Often writing in dissent, Justice Stevens wrote few significant majority decisions for the Court. During his 35 years as a Supreme Court Justice, his most important Court decisions were ''Atkins v. Virginia'' (2002) (holding that the execution of mentally retarded defendants was unconstitutional under the [[Eighth Amendment]]); ''Clinton v. Jones'' (1997) (holding that a president is not exempt from civil litigation); and ''Wallace v. Jaffree'' (1985) (invalidating a state law mandating a minute of silence in public schools "for meditation or silent prayer"). Justice Stevens voted in favor of the constitutionality of the [[death penalty]] in 1976,<ref>''See Gregg v. Georgia'', 428 U.S. 153 (1976)</ref> but later took the position that it is always unconstitutional.
Justice Stevens dissented alone from an 8–1 decision reversing application the racketeering law (designed to use against mobsters) to [[pro-life]] protesters. In other words, Justices Stevens he felt that this law should apply against pro-lifers, relying heavily on his own dissents from prior Supreme Court decisions:
:In my opinion Judge Kearse's analysis of the issue is manifestly correct. Even if the issue were close, however, three additional considerations provide strong support for her conclusion. First, the uniform construction of the statute that has prevailed throughout the country for decades should remain the law unless and until Congress decides to amend the statute. See Reves v. Ernst & Young, 494 U.S. 56, 74, 108 L. Ed. 2d 47, 110 S. Ct. 945 (1990) (STEVENS, J., concurring); Chesapeake & Ohio R. Co. v. Schwalb, 493 U.S. 40, 51, 107 L. Ed. 2d 278, 110 S. Ct. 381 (1989) (STEVENS, J., concurring in judgment); McNally v. United States, 483 U.S. 350, 376-377, 97 L. Ed. 2d 292, 107 S. Ct. 2875 (1987) (STEVENS, J., dissenting); 2 Shearson/American Express Inc. v. McMahon, 482 U.S. 220, 268-269, 96 L. Ed. 2d 185, 107 S. Ct. 2332 (1987) (STEVENS, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). ...
Scheidler v. NOW, Inc., 537 U.S. 393, 416-17 (Stevens, J., dissenting)
Justice Stevens He also dissented alone from a decision upholding a blanket exclusion of defendant's polygraph evidence in military trials.<ref>''[[United States v. Scheffer]]'', 523 U.S. 303 (1998).</ref>
After retiring, Stevens stated that, in his view, the three worst Supreme Court decisions during his service were ''[[Bush v. Gore]]'', ''[[District of Columbia v. Heller]]'', and ''[[Citizens United v. FEC]]'', all decisions hated by the Left.<ref>Birnbaum, Emily (November 26, 2018). [https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/418203-john-paul-stevens-names-three-biggest-errors-supreme-court-made Retired Justice Stevens: Gun control case, Gore v. Bush among three biggest ‘errors’ Supreme Court made during his tenure]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved November 26, 2018.</ref>
== Personal life ==
Stevens is was from a wealthy family that once owned and an insurance business and the hotel that is now the Chicago Hilton: during . In his young lifetimeyouth, the business endured some financial difficulties that left an impression on the young lawyer.<ref>Jeffrey Toobin, ''The Nine.''</ref> Stevens graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the [[University of Chicago]] in 1941. He had a son and three daughters by his first wife, whom he [[divorced]] a few years after joining the Supreme Court and then remarried a year later.
He served in the [[U.S.]] [[Navy]] during [[World War II]] (1942–45), having served the [[Navy]] as part of a code-breaking team, for which he earned the Bronze Star.
He graduated with the highest grades in the history of [[Northwestern University Law School]] and specialized in [[antitrust law]] as a practicing attorney and later as a professor and special counsel to the House of Representatives and the U.S. Attorney General's office.
 
As of his retirement from the Court, he was still physically vigorous, playing tennis several times a month; he also had an older brother who was physically vigorous.
Stevens died on July 16, 2019.<ref>Multiple references:
*Swoyer, Alex; Boyer, Dave (July 16, 2019). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jul/16/john-paul-stevens-dies-99/ John Paul Stevens, former Supreme Court justice, dies at 99]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved July 16, 2019.</ref>
== References==
{{reflist}}
{{Supreme Court|burger=y|rehnquist=y|roberts=y}}
Block, Siteadmin, SkipCaptcha, Upload, check user, delete, edit, move, oversight, protect, rollback, Administrator
51,035
edits