@RealJamesWoods Old liberals never die. They just keep hurting America.
— becky r (@kittez) April 21, 2014
Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens was interviewed by USA Today, and the liberal former judge believes the Constitution needs some serious amending:
His main focus is on a half-dozen issues that he believes have been wrongly decided or avoided — issues that can best be addressed by altering a document that’s been amended only 18 times in history, and just once since he joined the court in 1975.
“It’s certainly not easy to get the Constitution amended, and perhaps that’s one flaw in the Constitution that I don’t mention in the book,” he said during a wide-ranging interview with USA TODAY in his chambers at the court. Noting his book’s half dozen proposed amendments, he mused, “Maybe I should have had seven.”
Stevens, 94, proposes several changes to the Constitution. Among them, a clarification that the 2nd Amendment only applies to state militias, and that ordinary citizens do not possess the right to bear arms.
Actor James Woods sees Stevens’ proposals as another salvo against individual liberty:
Former justice: Amend the Constitution http://t.co/EFptqJ0jhA In short further the quiet erosion of individual liberty and states' rights.
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) April 21, 2014
Some who replied to Woods were sarcastically surprised Stevens would have taken an oath to support and defend a Constitution that he apparently believes has quite a few flaws, one of which is that it’s just too darned difficult to alter:
@RealJamesWoods Sad that a former SC Justice thinks making the Constitution hard to change is a "flaw".
— NS to you (@sleepinwarrior) April 21, 2014
@RealJamesWoods Does he even realize that the oath he took to become a SCJ says "SUPPORT" and "DEFEND" the constitution, not "REWRITE" it?
— Tiffany Lance (@tiffanylance) April 21, 2014
@RealJamesWoods Just as wrong off the bench as he was on it.
— TheFracDog (@TheFracDog) April 21, 2014
@RealJamesWoods Someone tell Stevens that a "gun loop hole" didn't even APPLY at #Newtown – bcuz I'm tired of saying it! #tcot #2A
— Rick Swift (@rickswift) April 21, 2014
@RealJamesWoods Mr. Woods, thanks for being a high-profile voice for liberty and the founding principles.
— James Gregoery Hass (@JGregoryHass) April 21, 2014
Stevens was the third-longest serving justice in U.S. history, USA Today noted.