John Paul Stevens | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2006 | |
| Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
| In office December 19, 1975 – June 29, 2010 | |
| Nominated by | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | William O. Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Elena Kagan |
| Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit | |
| In office November 2, 1970 – December 19, 1975 | |
| Nominated by | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Elmer Jacob Schnackenberg |
| Succeeded by | Harlington Wood Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1920-04-20)April 20, 1920 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | July 16, 2019(2019-07-16) (aged 99) Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | |
| Civilian awards | .svg) Presidential Medal of Freedom (2012)[1] |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant commander |
| Battles/wars | |
| Military awards | |
John Paul Stevens delivers the opinion of the Court inWhalen v. Roe. Recorded February 22, 1977 | |
John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as anassociate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldest justice in the history of theU.S. Supreme Court and the third-longest-serving justice. At the time of his death in 2019 at age 99, he was the longest-lived Supreme Court justice ever.[2][3] His long tenure saw him write for the Court on most issues of American law, includingcivil liberties, thedeath penalty, government action, and intellectual property. Despite being a registeredRepublican who throughout his life identified as a conservative,[4][5] Stevens was considered to have been on the liberal side of the Court at the time of his retirement.[6][7]
Born in Chicago, Stevens served in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II and graduated fromNorthwestern University School of Law. After clerking for JusticeWiley Rutledge, he co-founded a law firm in Chicago, focusing onantitrust law. In 1970, PresidentRichard Nixon appointed Stevens to theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Five years later, PresidentGerald Ford successfully nominated Stevens to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of JusticeWilliam O. Douglas. He became the senior associate justice after the retirement ofHarry Blackmun in 1994. After the death of Chief JusticeWilliam Rehnquist, Stevens briefly acted in the capacity of Chief Justice before the appointment ofJohn Roberts. Stevens retired in 2010 during the administration of PresidentBarack Obama and was succeeded byElena Kagan.
Stevens's majority opinions in landmark cases includeSony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.,Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council,Apprendi v. New Jersey,Hamdan v. Rumsfeld,NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.,Kelo v. City of New London,Gonzales v. Raich,U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, andMassachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. Stevens is also known for his dissents inTexas v. Johnson,Bush v. Gore,Bethel v. Fraser,District of Columbia v. Heller,Printz v. United States, andCitizens United v. FEC.
Stevens was born on April 20, 1920, inHyde Park,[8] Chicago, Illinois, to a wealthy family.[6][9] His paternal grandfather had formed an insurance company and held real estate in Chicago, and his granduncle owned theChas A. Stevens department store. His father, Ernest James Stevens (1884–1972), was a lawyer who later became an hotelier, owning two hotels: the La Salle and theStevens Hotel. The family lost ownership of the hotels during theGreat Depression, and Stevens's father, grandfather, and an uncle were charged withembezzlement; theIllinois Supreme Court later overturned the conviction, criticizing the prosecution.[10][6] His mother, Elizabeth Street Stevens (1881–1979), was a high school English teacher.[11] Two of his three older brothers also became lawyers.[11]
A lifelongChicago Cubs fan, Stevens was 12 when he attended the1932 World Series between the Yankees and the Cubs in Chicago'sWrigley Field, in whichBabe Ruth allegedlycalled his shot.[9] Stevens later recalled: "Ruth did point to the center-field scoreboard. And he did hit the ball out of the park after he pointed with his bat, so it really happened."[12] He also had the opportunity to meet several notable people of the era, including the famed aviatorsAmelia Earhart andCharles Lindbergh, the latter of whom gave him a caged dove as a gift.[9][13]
The family lived inHyde Park, and Stevens attended theUniversity of Chicago Laboratory Schools where he graduated in 1937. He later attended theUniversity of Chicago, where he majored inEnglish, was inducted intoPhi Beta Kappa,[14] and graduated with highest honors in 1941.[15] While in college, Stevens also became a member of thePsi Upsilon fraternity.[16]
He began work on his master's degree in English at the university in 1941 but soon decided to join theUnited States Navy. He enlisted on December 6, 1941, one day before theattack on Pearl Harbor, and served as an intelligence officer in thePacific Theater from 1942 to 1945.[17] Stevens was awarded aBronze Star for his service in the codebreaking team whose work led to the downing ofJapanese AdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto's plane in 1943 (Operation Vengeance).[6][9] He also earned theWorld War II Victory Medal and later received the highest United States civilian award, thePresidential Medal of Freedom, from formerPresident Barack Obama.[18]
Stevens married Elizabeth Jane Shereen in June 1942. Divorcing her in 1979, he married Maryan Mulholland Simon that December; that marriage lasted until Simon's death in 2015 following complications from hip surgery.[19][20] He had four children: John Joseph (who died of cancer in 1996),[15] Kathryn (who died in 2018), Elizabeth, and Susan.[9]
With the end of World War II, Stevens returned to Illinois, intending to return to his studies in English, but was persuaded by his brother Richard, who was a lawyer, to attend law school. Stevens enrolled in theNorthwestern University School of Law in 1945, with theG.I. Bill paying most of his tuition. Stevens graduated in 1947 ranked first in his class with aJ.D.magna cum laude, having earned the highestGPA in the school's history.[21]
After receiving high recommendations from several Northwestern faculty members,[6] Stevens served as alaw clerk toSupreme Court justiceWiley Rutledge during the 1947–48 term.[9]
Following his clerkship, Stevens returned to Chicago and joined the law firm of Poppenhusen, Johnston, Thompson & Raymond (nowJenner & Block). Stevens wasadmitted to the bar in 1949. He determined that he would not stay long at the Poppenhusen firm after being docked his pay for the day he took off to travel toSpringfield to swear his oath of admission. During his time at the firm, Stevens began his practice inantitrust law.
In 1951, he returned to Washington, DC, to serve as associate counsel to the Subcommittee on the Study of Monopoly Power of theJudiciary Committee of the U.S.House of Representatives. During this time, the subcommittee worked on several highly publicized investigations in many industries, most notablyMajor League Baseball.[9]
In 1952, Stevens returned to Chicago and, together with two other young lawyers with whom he had worked at Poppenhusen, Johnston, Thompson & Raymond, formed his own law firm: Rothschild, Stevens, Barry & Myers. It soon developed into a successful practice, with Stevens continuing to focus on antitrust cases. His growing expertise in antitrust law led to an invitation to teach the "Competition and Monopoly" course at the University of Chicago Law School, and from 1953 to 1955, he was a member of theAttorney General's National Committee to Study Antitrust Laws. At the same time, Stevens was making a name for himself as a first-rate antitrust litigator and was involved in a number of trials. He was widely regarded by colleagues as an extraordinarily capable and impressive lawyer with a fantastic memory and analytical ability, and authored a number of influential works on antitrust law.[22]
In 1969, the Greenberg Commission, appointed by theIllinois Supreme Court to investigateSherman Skolnick's corruption allegations leveled at former chief justiceRay Klingbiel and then-current chief justiceRoy Solfisburg, named Stevens as its counsel, meaning that he essentially served as the commission'sspecial prosecutor.[6] The commission was widely thought to be a whitewash, but Stevens proved them wrong by vigorously prosecuting the justices, forcing them from office in the end.[23] As a result of the prominence he gained during the Greenberg Commission, Stevens became the second vice president of theChicago Bar Association in 1970.
Stevens's role in the Greenberg Commission catapulted him to prominence and was largely responsible for PresidentRichard Nixon's decision to appoint Stevens as a judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1970. His nomination was put forth by a formerUniversity of Chicago classmate, Illinois SenatorCharles H. Percy.[9][24]
On November 28, 1975, PresidentGerald Fordnominated Stevens as anassociate justice of the United States Supreme Court, to a seat vacated byWilliam O. Douglas.[25] Again, it was Percy who suggested Stevens; the nomination was also strongly supported by Attorney GeneralEdward Levi, former president of the University of Chicago.[10] He wassworn into office December 19, 1975,[26] after being confirmed 98–0 by theU.S. Senate two days before.[27][11][28]
WhenHarry Blackmun retired in 1994, Stevens became the senior associate justice and thus assumed the administrative duties of the Court whenever the post ofChief Justice of the United States was vacant or the chief justice was unable to perform his duties. Stevens performed the duties of chief justice in September 2005, between the death of Chief JusticeWilliam Rehnquist and the swearing-in of his replacement,John Roberts, and presided over oral arguments on a number of occasions when the chief justice was ill or recused. Also in September 2005, Stevens was honored with a symposium byFordham Law School for his 30 years on the Supreme Court, and President Ford wrote a letter stating his continued pride in appointing him.[29][30]
In a 2005 speech, Stevens stressed the importance of "learning on the job"; for example, during his tenure on the Court, Stevens changed his views onaffirmative action (which he initially opposed), as well as on other issues.[31] President Ford praised Stevens in 2005: "He is serving his nation well, with dignity, intellect and without partisan political concerns."[32]
Additionally, he participated actively in questioning during oral arguments.[7] Stevens was elected a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.[33] That same year he was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society.[34]
On January 20, 2009, Stevens administered theoath of office to Vice PresidentJoe Biden at Biden's request.[35] It is customary for the vice president to be inaugurated by the person of their choice.
On April 9, 2010, Stevens announced his intention to retire from the Supreme Court;[36] he subsequently retired on June 29 of that year.[37] Stevens said that his decision to retire from the Court was initially triggered when he stumbled on several sentences when delivering his oral dissent in the 2010 landmark caseCitizens United v. FEC.[11] Stevens said "I took that as a warning sign that maybe I've been around longer than I should."[38]
Stevens retired on June 29, 2010, as thethird-longest-serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court with 34 years and six months of service and just three days short of tying the tenure of the second-longest serving justice in history,Stephen Johnson Field, who had retired on December 1, 1897. The longest-serving justice is Stevens's immediate predecessor, JusticeWilliam O. Douglas, who served 361⁄2 years and retired on November 12, 1975. He was the last sitting Supreme Court justice to serve on theBurger Court.
Stevens was also the second-oldest justice, at age 90 years and two months at retirement, behindOliver Wendell Holmes Jr. who retired at the age of 90 years and 10 months on January 12, 1932. On July 23, 2015, Stevens became the longest-lived retired justice, surpassingStanley Forman Reed who died at age 95 years and 93 days on April 2, 1980.
On June 26, 2015, Stevens attended the Court's announcement of the opinion inObergefell v. Hodges, in which the Court ruled 5–4 that recognition ofsame-sex marriage is protected under the Constitution'sFourteenth Amendment.[39]
When he was appointed to the Supreme Court, Stevens was a registeredRepublican.[40] In September 2007, he was a sitting Justice when he was asked if he still considered himself a Republican. Stevens replied, "That's the kind of issue I shouldn't comment on, either in private or in public."[6] Stevens was generally considered to be one of the last-survivingRockefeller Republicans.[41]
Abner Mikva, a close friend, said that as a judge, Stevens refused to discuss politics. "He was more particular about it than a lot of them," Mikva stated.[24]
In October 2018, Stevens said thatBrett Kavanaugh's performance duringhis confirmation hearings should disqualify him from serving on the Supreme Court, citing the potential for political bias.[42] Kavanaugh was nominated by Republican presidentDonald Trump.[42]
Shortly before Stevens' death in 2019, he said he was "not a fan" of Donald Trump, and when asked about Trump's effect on the country, he stated "I don't think it's been favorable."[43]
On theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Stevens had a moderatelyconservative record. Early in his tenure on the Supreme Court, Stevens had a relatively moderate voting record. He voted to reinstatecapital punishment in the United States and opposed race-based admissions programs, such as the program at issue inRegents of the University of California v. Bakke,438 U.S.265 (1978). However, on the more conservativeRehnquist Court, Stevens joined the more liberal justices on issues such asabortion rights,gay rights andfederalism. HisSegal–Cover score, a measure of the perceived liberalism/conservatism of Court members when they joined the Court, places him squarely on the conservative side of the Court.[44] However, a 2003 statistical analysis of Supreme Court voting patterns found Stevens the most liberal member of the Court.[45][46] President Ford expressed no regrets about Stevens's drift toward liberalism, writing in a 2005 letter toUSA Today, "Justice Stevens has made me, and our fellow citizens, proud of my three decade old decision to appoint him to the Supreme Court."[47]
Stevens's jurisprudence has usually been characterized asidiosyncratic. Stevens, unlike most justices, reviewed petitions forcertiorari within his chambers instead of having hislaw clerks participate as part of thecert pool and usually wrote the first drafts of his opinions himself;[17][28] when asked to explain why, he said: "I'm the one hired to do the job." He further explained that he continued to learn about cases and legal theories as he drafted his opinions and re-evaluates his positions on cases while writing.[48]
He was not anoriginalist (such asAntonin Scalia) nor a pragmatist (such as JusticeStephen Breyer), nor did he pronounce himself a cautious liberal (such as JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg).[17] He was considered part of the liberal bloc of the Court starting in the mid-1980s, and was dubbed the "chief justice of the liberal Supreme Court",[49][50] though he publicly called himself a judicial conservative in 2007.[6][51]
InCleburne v. Cleburne Living Center,473 U.S.432 (1985), Stevens argued against the Supreme Court's famous "strict scrutiny" doctrine for laws involving "suspect classifications", putting forth the view that all classifications should be evaluated using the "rational basis" test as to whether they could have been enacted by an "impartial legislature". InBurnham v. Superior Court of California,495 U.S.604 (1990), Stevens demonstrated his independence with a characteristically pithy concurrence.
Stevens was once an impassioned critic ofaffirmative action; in addition to the 1978 decision inBakke, he dissented in the case ofFullilove v. Klutznick,448 U.S.448 (1980), which upheld a minority set-aside program. He shifted his position over the years and voted to uphold theaffirmative action program at theUniversity of Michigan Law School challenged inGrutter v. Bollinger,539 U.S.306 (2003).
Stevens wrote the majority opinion inHamdan v. Rumsfeld in 2006, in which he held that certain military commissions had been improperly constituted. He also wrote a lengthy dissenting opinion inCitizens United v. FEC, arguing the majority should not make a decision so broad that it would overturn precedents set in three previous Supreme Court cases. When reviewing his career at the Supreme Court in his 2019 book,The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years, Stevens lamented being unable to persuade his colleagues against the decision inCitizens United, which he described as "a disaster for our election law."[52]
Stevens's views on obscenity under theFirst Amendment changed over the years. He was initially quite critical of constitutional protection for obscenity, rejecting a challenge to Detroit zoning ordinances that barred adult theaters in designated areas inYoung v. American Mini Theatres,427 U.S.50 (1976), ("[E]ven though we recognize that the First Amendment will not tolerate the total suppression oferotic materials that have some arguably artistic value, it is manifest that society's interest in protecting this type of expression is of a wholly different, and lesser, magnitude than the interest in untrammeled political debate"), but later in his tenure adhered firmly to alibertarian free speech approach on obscenity issues, voting to strike down a federal law regulating online obscene content considered "harmful to minors" inACLU v. Ashcroft,535 U.S.564 (2002). In his dissenting opinion, Stevens argued that, while "[a]s a parent, grandparent, and great-grandparent", he endorsed the legislative goal of protecting children from pornography "without reservation", "[a]s a judge, I must confess to a growing sense of unease when the interest in protecting children from prurient materials is invoked as a justification for using criminal regulation of speech as a substitute for, or a simple backup to, adult oversight of children's viewing."[53]
Perhaps the most personal and unusual feature of his jurisprudence was his continual referencing of World War II in his opinions. For example, Stevens, a World War II veteran, was visibly angered byWilliam Kunstler's flippant defense of flag-burning in oral argument inTexas v. Johnson,491 U.S.397 (1989) and voted to uphold a prohibition on flag-burning against aFirst Amendment argument. Stevens wrote, "The ideas of liberty and equality have been an irresistible force in motivating leaders likePatrick Henry,Susan B. Anthony, andAbraham Lincoln, schoolteachers likeNathan Hale andBooker T. Washington, thePhilippine Scouts who fought atBataan, and the soldiers who scaled the bluff atOmaha Beach. If those ideas are worth fighting for—and our history demonstrates that they are—it cannot be true that the flag that uniquely symbolizes their power is not itself worthy of protection from unnecessary desecration."
Stevens generally supported students' right to free speech in public schools. He wrote sharply-worded dissents inBethel v. Fraser,478 U.S.675 (1986) andMorse v. Frederick,551 U.S.393 (2007), two decisions that restricted students' freedom of speech. However, he joined the Court's ruling onHazelwood v. Kuhlmeier,484 U.S.260 (1988) which upheld a principal's censorship of astudent newspaper.
InWallace v. Jaffree,472 U.S.38 (1985), striking down an Alabama statute mandating a minute of silence in public schools "for meditation or silent prayer", Stevens wrote the opinion for a majority that included justicesWilliam Brennan,Thurgood Marshall,Harry Blackmun, andLewis Powell. He affirmed that theEstablishment Clause is binding on the States via theFourteenth Amendment, and that: "Just as the right to speak and the right to refrain from speaking are complementary components of a broader concept of individual freedom of mind, so also the individual's freedom to choose his own creed is the counterpart of his right to refrain from accepting the creed of the majority. At one time, it was thought that this right merely proscribed the preference of one Christian sect over another, but would not require equal respect for the conscience of the infidel, the atheist, or the adherent of a non-Christian faith such as Islam or Judaism. But when the underlying principle has been examined in the crucible of litigation, the Court has unambiguously concluded that the individual freedom of conscience protected by the First Amendment embraces the right to select any religious faith or none at all."
Stevens wrote a dissent inVan Orden v. Perry,545 U.S.677 (2005), in which he was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; he argued that the ten commandments displayed in theTexas Capitol grounds transmitted the message: "This State endorses the divine code of the 'Judeo-Christian' God." The Establishment Clause, he wrote, "at the very least ... has created a strong presumption against the display of religious symbols on public property", and that it "demands religious neutrality—Government may not exercise preference for one religious faith over another". This includes a prohibition against enacting laws or imposing requirements that aid all religions as against unbelievers, or aid religions that are based on a belief in the existence of God against those founded on different principles.
When interpreting theInterstate Commerce Clause, Stevens consistently sided with thefederal government. He dissented inUnited States v. Lopez,514 U.S.549 (1995) andUnited States v. Morrison,529 U.S.598 (2000), two prominent cases in which theRehnquist court changed direction by holding that Congress had exceeded its constitutional power under the Commerce Clause. He then authoredGonzales v. Raich,545 U.S.1 (2005), which permits the federal government to arrest,prosecute, andimprison patients who usemedical marijuana regardless of whether such use is legally permissible under state law.
Stevens had a generally libertarian voting record on theFourth Amendment, which deals withsearch and seizure. Stevens authored the majority opinion inArizona v. Gant, which held that "police may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant's arrest only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the compartment at the time of the search or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest." He dissented inNew Jersey v. T. L. O.,469 U.S.325 (1985) andVernonia School District 47J v. Acton,515 U.S.646 (1995), both involving searches in schools. He was a dissenter inOliver v. United States,466 U.S.170 (1984), a case relating to theopen-fields doctrine. However, inUnited States v. Montoya De Hernandez,473 U.S.531 (1985), he sided with the government, and he was the author ofUnited States v. Ross,456 U.S.798 (1982), which permits the police to search closed containers found in the course of searching a vehicle. He also authored the dissent inKyllo v. United States,533 U.S.27 (2001), which held that the use of thermal imaging requires a warrant.
In a 2009 paper,Ward Farnsworth argued that Stevens's "dissents against type" (in Stevens's case, votes in dissent in favor of the government's position and against the accused, such as the one inKyllo) suggest that while Stevens "[believed] strongly in laying out resources for the sake of accuracy and opportunities to protest an unfair trial, [he is] not nearly as concerned about restraining the government at the front end of the process, when it is gathering evidence—for the costs of invaded rights then are toliberty rather than toaccuracy".[54]
Stevens joined the majority inGregg v. Georgia,428 U.S.153 (1976), which overruledFurman v. Georgia,408 U.S.238 (1972) and again allowed the use of the death penalty in the United States. In later cases such asThompson v. Oklahoma,487 U.S.815 (1988) andAtkins v. Virginia,536 U.S.304 (2002), Stevens held that the Constitution forbids the use of the death penalty in certain circumstances. Stevens opposed using the death penalty onjuvenile offenders; he dissented inStanford v. Kentucky,492 U.S.361 (1989) and joined the Court's majority inRoper v. Simmons,543 U.S.551 (2005), overturningStanford. InBaze v. Rees,553 U.S.35 (2008), Stevens voted with the majority in upholding Kentucky's method of lethal injection, because he felt bound bystare decisis. However, he opined that "state-sanctioned killing is ... becoming more and more anachronistic" and agreed with former justiceByron White's assertion that "the needless extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purposes ... would be patently excessive", in violation of theEighth Amendment (quoting from White's concurrence inFurman).[55][56] Soon after his vote inBaze, Stevens told aSixth Circuit conference that one of the drugs (pancuronium bromide) in the three-drug cocktail used by Kentucky to execute death row inmates is prohibited in Kentucky for euthanizing animals. He questioned whether Kentucky Derby second-place finisherEight Belles died more humanely than those on death row.[57] He explained that his death penalty decisions were influenced, in part, by an increasing awareness throughDNA testing of the fallibility of death sentences, and the fact that death-qualified juries come with a set of biases.[58] Stevens, at the time of his opinion inBaze, was one of four justices—the others beingBrennan,Marshall, andBlackmun—who had concluded that post-Gregg capital punishment is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.[59] After his retirement, Stevens stated that his vote inGregg was the only vote he regretted.[60]
Stevens authored the majority opinion inChevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.,467 U.S.837 (1984).[61] The opinion stands for how courts review administrative agencies' interpretations of their organic statutes. If the organic statute unambiguously expresses the will of Congress, the court enforces the legislature's intent. If the statute is unclear (and is thus thought to reflect a Congressional delegation of power to the agency to interpret the statute), and the agency interpretation has the force of law, courts defer to an agency's interpretation of the statute unless that interpretation is deemed to be "arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to the statute". This doctrine is now generally referred to as "Chevron deference" among legal practitioners.[62]
Unlike some other members of the Court, Stevens was consistently willing to findorganic statutes unambiguous and thus overturn agency interpretations of those statutes. (See his majority opinion inImmigration and Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca,480 U.S.421 (1987), and his dissent inYoung v. Community Nutrition Institute,476 U.S.974 (1986).) AlthoughChevron has come to stand for the proposition of deference to agency interpretations, Stevens, the author of the opinion, was less willing to defer to agencies than the rest of his colleagues on the Court.
Stevens wrote the lead opinion inCrawford v. Marion County Election Board, a case where the Court upheld the right of states to require an official photo identification card to help ensure that only citizens vote.Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy joined this opinion, and justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, andSamuel Alito agreed with them on the outcome. Edward B. Foley, an election law expert atOhio State University, said the Stevens opinion might represent an effort to "depoliticize election law cases."[63] Stevens's vote inCrawford and his agreement with the Court's conservative majority in two other cases during the 2007–2008 term (Medellin v. Texas,552 U.S.491 (2008) andBaze v. Rees) ledUniversity of Oklahoma law professor and former Stevens clerkJoseph Thai to wonder if Stevens was "tacking back a little bit toward the center."[64]
Despite his vote in Crawford, Stevens expressed disagreement withShelby County v. Holder, a case that struck down preclearance requirements of the Voting Rights Act.[65]
InBush v. Gore,531 U.S.98 (2000), Stevens wrote a scathing dissent on the Court's ruling to stay therecount of votes in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. He believed that the holding displayed "an unstated lack of confidence in the impartiality and capacity of the state judges who would make the critical decisions if the vote count were to proceed". He continued, "The endorsement of that position by the majority of this Court can only lend credence to the most cynical appraisal of the work of judges throughout the land. It is confidence in the men and women who administer the judicial system that is the true backbone of the rule of law. Time will one day heal the wound to that confidence that will be inflicted by today's decision. One thing, however, is certain. Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law."
Stevens wrote the primarydissenting opinion inDistrict of Columbia v. Heller554 U.S.570 (2008), alandmark case which addressed the interpretation of theSecond Amendment and theright to keep and bear arms.Hellerstruck down provisions of theFirearms Control Regulations Act of 1975 and held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess afirearm unconnected with service in a militia for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. His dissent was joined by justicesDavid Souter,Ruth Bader Ginsburg, andStephen Breyer; the majority opinion was written by JusticeAntonin Scalia.
Stevens stated that the Court's judgment was "a strained and unpersuasive reading" which overturned longstandingprecedent, and that the Court had "bestowed a dramatic upheaval in the law."[66] Stevens also stated that the amendment was notable for the "omission of any statement of purpose related to the right to use firearms for hunting or personal self-defense" which was present in the Declarations of Rights ofPennsylvania andVermont.[66] Stevens' dissent seems to rest on four main points of disagreement: that the Founders would have made the individual right aspect of the Second Amendment express if that was what was intended; that the "militia" preamble and exact phrase "to keep and bear arms" demands the conclusion that the Second Amendment touches on state militia service only; that many lower courts' later "collective-right" reading of theMiller decision constitutesstare decisis, which may only be overturned at great peril; and that the Court has not considered gun-control laws (e.g., theNational Firearms Act) unconstitutional. The dissent concludes, "The Court would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons. ... I could not possibly conclude that the Framers made such a choice."
On March 27, 2018, days after theMarch for Our Lives demonstrations in the wake of theStoneman Douglas High School shooting, described by many media outlets as a possibletipping point forgun control legislation,[67][68][69] Stevens wrote an essay forThe New York Times, stating that the demonstrators should be demanding the outright repeal of the Second Amendment.[70] He wrote:
Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment, which provides that "a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century.[70]
| External videos | |
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 Q&A interview with Stevens aboutFive Chiefs, October 9, 2011,C-SPAN |
In 2011, Stevens published a memoir entitledFive Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir, which detailed his legal career during the tenure of five of the Supreme Court'schief justices. InFive Chiefs, Stevens recounts his time as a law clerk during the tenure ofChief Justice Vinson; his experiences as a private attorney during theWarren era; and his experience while serving as an associate justice on theBurger,Rehnquist, andRoberts Courts.[71]
In 2014, Stevens publishedSix Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution, where he proposed that sixamendments should be added to the U.S. Constitution to addresspolitical gerrymandering,anti-commandeering,campaign finance reform,capital punishment,gun violence, andsovereign immunity.[72]
In 2019, at age 99 and shortly before his death, Stevens publishedThe Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years.[73]
Stevens married Elizabeth Sheeren in 1942. He was on the high court when the couple divorced thirty-seven years later in 1979. Later that same year, he married Maryan Simon; they remained married until her death in 2015. Stevens had four children, two of whom predeceased him. Stevens was aProtestant, and upon his retirement, the Supreme Court had no Protestant members for the first time in its history.[74][75][76] He was one of only two Supreme Court justices who divorced while on the Court—the first wasWilliam O. Douglas, whom he coincidentally succeeded as an associate justice.[77]Stevens was also an avidbridge player and belonged to the Pompano Duplicate Bridge Club Florida.[78] Stevens was a private pilot who owned and flew a Cessna 172 with the registration number N1688F for almost two decades.
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On July 16, 2019, Stevens died at the age of 99 at a hospital inFort Lauderdale, Florida, from complications of a stroke.[11] He received hospice care and was with his two surviving children, Elizabeth and Susan, when he died.[79]
Helay in repose at the Supreme Court on July 22, 2019[80] before a planned burial atArlington National Cemetery the following day. The service was attended by all the justices on the court, as well as retired justicesAnthony Kennedy andDavid Souter.[81] PresidentDonald Trump ordered flags to fly at half-staff as a mark of respect on Tuesday, July 23, until sundown.[82]
Stevens was portrayed by the actorWilliam Schallert in the 2008 filmRecount. He was portrayed by David Grant Wright in two episodes ofBoston Legal in whichAlan Shore andDenny Crane appear before the Supreme Court. Stevens appeared in interviews in two episodes ofKen Burns's 2011PBS documentary miniseriesProhibition, recalling his childhood in Chicago in the 1920s and 30s.[83][84][85]
According to an April 2009 article inThe Wall Street Journal, Stevens "rendered an opinion on who wroteShakespeare's plays," proclaiming himself anOxfordian. That is, he believes the works ascribed to William Shakespeare actually were written byEdward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.[86] As a result, he was appointedOxfordian of the Year by the Shakespeare Oxford Society.[87] According to the article,Antonin Scalia andHarry Blackmun shared Stevens's belief.[86]
Stevens was 12 years old when he was at Wrigley Field for the1932 World Series game at whichBabe Ruth hit his "called shot" home run.[88] Eighty-four years later, he attended Game 4 of the2016 World Series, also atWrigley Field, wearing a red bowtie with aChicago Cubs jacket.[89]
John Paul Stevens because [became?] the second-oldest justice ever to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court
Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired in 2010, was on hand for the decision
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| Preceded by | Judge of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit 1970–1975 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 1975–2010 | Succeeded by |
