WASHINGTON (AP) — John Paul Stevens moved left as the Supreme Court shifted to the right during his nearly 35 years as a justice. But the justice began his Supreme Court years as a critic of affirmative action and a supporter of the death penalty. He voiced only one regret about his Supreme Court career: that he had supported reinstating the death penalty in 1976. After World War II, Stevens graduated first in his class at Northwestern University's law school and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge. He evoked stirring images of the D-Day assault on Omaha Beach in opposing the court's ruling that flag-burning is a protected act of free speech.

Source: Economic Times July 17, 2019 01:52 UTC