Justice Stevens's grandkids may not care, but he has some things to get off his chest

by Ken

Admittedly, as subject categories go, the category "Most Charming Utterance Uttered by the Late New York Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner" doesn't promise to be especially broad or arresting. That said, the most charming utterance I'm aware of The Boss uttering was in a respone to a question about the cartoonish version of himself incorporated as a Seinfeld recurring caricature during the period when, improbably and often disastrously, George Costanza worked for the Yankees.

The caricature was actually surprisingly gentle, but still, George had ample reason to be resentful. Instead, he declared himself delighted. He had become, he said, a hero to his grandchildren. For that matter, I recall that the actor Lloyd Bridges said much the same thing about the hilarious character he created on Seinfeld. Bridges had a long and distinguished career on both big and small screens behind him, but suddenly he was on his grandchildren's radar.

Add to the list now retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who appeared recently before the Arlington (VA) Committee of 100 and, according to the Fall Church News-Press's "Man in Arlington," Charlie Clark, "brought down the house."

Stevens verified a few legends from the sports world. Yes, he knew Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers executive portrayed in the current film "42" who brought up pioneer Jackie Robinson to integrate baseball. He also interviewed Ty Cobb while researching baseball economics.

Most memorably, he did witness, at age 12, Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield stands during the 1932 World Series in Wrigley Field and placing a home run right where he promised to. Decades later, when the Chicago Cubs invited Stevens to throw out the first pitch, "I was a hero to my grandchildren," he said, "which is more important than these other things."

It occurs to me that this might be a better world if our major players thought occasionally about how their deeds would register with the grandkids. Your average Wall Street or bankster predator, for example. It wouldn't provide any guarantee of superior job performance, but it might give some of those folks pause for at least a second thought before doing their worst.

Not surprisingly, Justice Stevens harked back to a different world.

Memories the justice volunteered included several from his 1975 confirmation hearing after having been named by President Ford. As the first nominee to undergo a new tradition of personal visits with senators, Stevens recalled that Barry Goldwater promised his vote because the two shared enthusiasm for airplanes. Strom Thurmond knew not to ask how Stevens would vote on the death penalty -- "It's not proper to probe candidates' views, one requirement being to keep an open mind until you hear the parties and read their briefs," Stevens said. But Thurmond conveyed his support for capital punishment, and at a later meeting, Ted Kennedy conveyed his opposite view.

The audience participated actively, and here, for the record, are some of the points Justice Stevens made:

• The high court needs more diversity, legislative and military experience and trial lawyers such as Thurgood Marshall.

• The Bush v. Gore case resolving the 2000 election "should have been rethought," as suggested recently by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. "It was nonsense to apply an equal protection argument to hanging chads versus dimpled chads when the voter's intention for both was clear."

• The 2010 Citizens United decision on campaign spending was "incorrect," but "don't hold your breath for the court to change it."

• The 2012 decision mostly upholding Obamacare vindicated his confidence in Chief Justice John Roberts' "integrity and independence" in following the law even when it's not his policy choice.

• In the coming twin rulings on same-sex marriage, he guesses the court will dismiss the California challenge for lacking jurisdiction and strike down the Defense of Marriage Act as unfair tax policy.

In addition:

Asked by [VA] state Del. Patrick Hope whether he backs mandatory retirement for judges, Stevens said people 70 and older can still contribute. He would have loved to keep working but realized during Citizens United he was having trouble "articulating."

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