Whether a critic or an admirer, there is little debate that Justice John Paul Stevens’ terrorism-related opinions and influence have checked a broad and bold assertion of executive power, established baselines of fairness in the detention of war detainees, and reminded Congress and the nation of the importance and function of habeas corpus.
“On terrorism, he has been not just the leading light on the left, but the master strategist,” said Stephen Vladeck of American University Washington College of Law. “For the most part, as Justice Stevens has gone, so has gone the Court.”
