Justice John Paul Stevens - ain't he cute?

This octogenarian with a bow-tie and some original, now-hipster frames (see below) is one bad-ass mother. As leader of the Supreme Court's liberal wing, Stevens has forged delicate majorities in areas of the law such as the rights of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, allowing them to get hearings before federal judges. Stevens has had a knack for working with centrist conservatives such as former justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice Anthony Kennedy, often the swing vote on cases.

The self-effacing man who is rarely recognized beyond the court's marble walls is a powerhouse behind the scenes — and this might finally be his last term. Stevens' retirement would leave a major gap among liberals and shake up a court already in transition with a new justice this term. Stevens has not hired his usual set of law clerks for the session beginning next October. He says he is surprised by media attention to a signal he might retire soon.

"That can't be news," he says, declining to reveal his plans. "I'm not exactly a kid."

"We're getting to a point that our cases are revisiting issues that I wrote on 10, 20, 30 years ago," he says. "I really have felt pretty good about re-reading the opinions I wrote many years ago. I have to confess that."

Harvard University law professor Richard Fallon says Stevens' retirement would leave a significant void, especially given the role he took on after liberals William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall retired in the 1990s.

"Justice Stevens became the strongest, most articulate voice on the court defending the rights of criminal defendants and racial, religious, and other minorities," Fallon says. He describes Stevens as "a wily practitioner of coalition politics, who has cobbled together liberal majorities for a number of important decisions in a generally conservative era."
Yet Stevens has one of the lowest profiles.

Unlike Justice Antonin Scalia on the right or Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the left, Stevens avoids the speaking circuit. A recent C-SPAN survey found Stevens and Justices Kennedy and Stephen Breyer tied in last place for public recognition among the justices. Only 1% of those polled in a June survey could name them.

The Chicago native who sported one of his signature bow ties in the interview — red plaid — complimented his colleagues even as he acknowledged disagreements. "Sometimes I'm disappointed in the decisions they reach," he says, "but I respect every one of them."