Yesterday we lost a beacon of justice who sadly seems almost an anachronism today: learned and committed to learning and growing on the job, kind and courteous to all, classy, nuanced and non-partisan in expression, and ever thoughtful and principled.
A gentle Republican and former Chicago antitrust lawyer appointed by the unelected Republican President Gerald Ford, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens blazed his own quietly rebellious and independent trail across 35 years on the high court, becoming the third longest serving justice ever.
Initially resistant by training and temperament to bold protection of social justice imperatives in matters like the death penalty and racially restorative government policies—voting with the majority in the Bakke decision invalidating affirmative action medical school admissions, his open and searching mind led him to learn and evolve on the bench.