John Paul Stevens interview on PBS NewsHour

Run time: 09:29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGGxuweObQ0   Posted on YouTube: June 14, 2011 By YouTube Member: PBSNewsHour Views on YouTube: 369   Posted on DU: June 17, 2011 By DU Member: alp227 Views on DU: 722

 
It's been nearly a year since Justice John Paul Stevens left the bench after the third-longest tenure on the Supreme Court. Stevens sat down with Gwen Ifill to discuss his career, his leadership of the Court's liberal wing, why he doesn't like such labels and how his tennis game is now that he's retired. (Transcript)

In the interview, Stevens criticized the Supreme Court decision allowing the Westboro Baptist Church (the God Hates Fags church) to picket military funerals: "...it didn't actually recognize the difference between restrictions on what a person can say and the way in which it can be said and the places in which it can be said. And in the cases involving libel, for example, the court has found constitutionally protected speech by public figures that wouldn't be protected by a private person." Stevens said he would've dissented with Justice Samuel Alito.