Justice John Paul Stevens is stepping down from the United States Supreme Court, leaving President Obama to pick another Supreme Court Justice. Justice Stevens was appointed to the court in 1975 by President Ford. He was considered a liberal justice and wrote many opinions strongly affirming individual liberties, civil rights and upholding constitutional protections for criminal defendants. The departure of Stevens is unlikely to shift the court as President Obama will likely pick a justice with similar views as Justice Stevens. As the court stands now, there are four conservative justices, four liberal justices and Justice Kennedy is considered a swing vote in many cases.
In the recent landmark United States Supreme Court confrontation clause decisions, Justice Stevens voted with the majority in both Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts and Crawford v. Washington. The confrontation clause has been an area of Constitutional law where liberal and conservative labels have not been an accurate predictor of voting as Justice Scalia voted with the majority in Melendez-Diaz while the normally liberal justice Breyer dissented from the court's ruling. Accordingly, in this crucial area for Massachusetts criminal defense lawyers, the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Sixth Amendment right of confrontation, a new justice could alter the voting majority in the court's Confrontation Clause jurisprudence.
