There seem to be some misconceptions about Justice Stevens

[cali]

I see a lot of people claiming that Stevens hasn't changed, but that the Court has. Actually, both the Court and Stevens has changed. Stevens was widely considered a moderate when he sat on the 7th Circuit and for the fist 10 years or so on the SCOTUS, he was often a swing vote. It wasn't until the mid eighties that he started voting consistently with the liberal bloc. In other words, as the court grew more conservative, Stevens became more liberal.

So why did Ford choose him? Well, Ford was decidedly not a hard core conservative but even if he had been there were practical considerations. The Senate at the time, was composed of 62 democrats and 38 republicans.

[HughMoran]

1. I think someone on Rachel claimed that he's STILL a Republican

albeit a Republican from an era when there was such a thing as a 'liberal' Republican.

[Fire1]

2. I've got my first time to see a 'liberal' Republican. n/t