Justice Stevens: I May Retire

John Paul Stevens would like to make a decision about retiring from the Supreme Court within the next month, he reveals in a new interview. “I still have my options open,” he tells Jeffrey Toobin in a lengthy New Yorker profile. “You can say I will retire within the next three years. I’m sure of that.” In 2 years Stevens, now 89, would be the longest-serving justice ever, but he says he’s “never felt any interest in trying to break any records.”

The Gerald Ford appointee says he always considered himself a Republican, but these days he’s seen as a liberal icon. Asked if it mattered which president replaced him, Stevens replied, “I’d rather not answer that,” but added that he has “great admiration” for President Obama “and certainly think he’s capable of picking successfully, you know, doing a good job of filling vacancies.” (More John Paul Stevens stories.)