Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens to retire?

President Obama looks likely to get another Supreme Court nomination in the next year. From AP-

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has hired fewer law clerks than usual, generating speculation that the leader of the court's liberals will retire next year.

If Stevens does step down, he would give President Barack Obama his second high court opening in two years. Obama chose Justice Sonia Sotomayor for the court when Justice David Souter announced his retirement in May.

Souter's failure to hire clerks was the first signal that he was contemplating leaving the court.

Stevens, 89, joined the court in 1975 and is the second-oldest justice in the court's history, after Oliver Wendell Holmes. He is the seventh-longest-serving justice, with more than 33 years and eight months on the court.

Stevens when asked by Associated Press, did confirm that he has only hired one law clerk. Retired Supreme Court Justices are allowed one clerk. Active justices can have up to four.

Is too much being made of Stevens clerk selection process?

But one former clerk, University of Oklahoma law professor Joseph Thai, said he takes it as a sign that Stevens is likely to retire soon.

"It seems to indicate that he probably won't go beyond the current term," Thai said, cautioning that Stevens has said nothing to him about leaving

. I don't think so. In light of Stevens age, I think he is about to retire. He was nominated to the Court in 1975 by President Gerald Ford and will turn 90 years old very soon.

Stevens has been considered a liberal member of the court, but that isn't exactly correct. His decisions have been known to be idiosyncratic over the years more than anything else. Still a replacement chosen by President Obama isn't likely to swing the court to the left.

Get well Chief Justice

From AP-

WASHINGTON - Chief Justice John Roberts told President Bush Tuesday he was doing well after sustaining a seizure at his Maine vacation home, the White House said.

Bush called Roberts Tuesday morning.

"The chief justice assured him that he was doing fine," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "The president was reassured."

*****

Doctors who examined Roberts after his seizure said they found no tumor, stroke or any other explanation for the episode.

Roberts, 52, had a similar, unexplained attack in 1993.

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By definition, someone who has had more than one seizure without any other cause is determined to have epilepsy, said Dr. Marc Schlosberg, a Washington Hospital Center neurologist who is not involved in the Roberts case.

Whether Roberts will need anti-seizure medications to prevent another is something he and his doctor will have to decide. But after two seizures, the likelihood of another at some point is greater than 60 percent.

Epilepsy is merely a term for a seizure disorder, but it is a loaded term because it makes people think of lots of seizures, cautioned Dr. Edward Mkrdichian, a neurosurgeon at the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch.

*****

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. on a dock near Roberts' summer home in Port Clyde on Maine's Hupper Island. He had just gotten off a boat and was returning home after running errands, Arberg said. Port Clyde, which is part of the town of St. George, is about 90 miles by car northeast of Portland, midway up the coast of Maine.

Roberts was taken by private boat to the mainland and then transferred to an ambulance, St. George Fire Chief Tim Polky said.

*****

Named to the court by Bush in 2005, Roberts is the youngest justice on a court in which the senior member, John Paul Stevens, is 87.

Roberts is the father of two young children.

Larry Robbins, a Washington attorney who worked with Roberts at the Justice Department in 1993, said he drove Roberts to work for several months after Roberts' seizure that year. Robbins said Roberts never mentioned what the problem was and he never heard of it happening again.

I have more than a passing familiarity. When young I suffered seizures and was placed on phenobarbital and dilantin for them. The seizures stopped by the time I was 10 or so, and with the exception of a blackout spell in 1989(probably due to stress), I've had no history since.

Right now The doctors are certain to be working hard in order to diagnose exactly what's wrong with the Chief Justice. I wish them good luck and to the CJ and his family. That adorable son of yours will be wanting his father healthy again.

Others blogging on this news- Poliblog, Michelle Malkin, Lorie at Wizbang, Pirate's Cove, Webloggin, Stop the ACLU, Below the Beltway, Sister Toldjah,