Justice Stevens’s Papers Will Be Released While Justices O’Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, and Breyer Are Still Alive
Orin announced the big news: on Tuesday, May 2, the Library of Congress will release the papers of Justice Stevens through 2005. The finding aid provides the acquisition information:
The papers of John Paul Stevens, lawyer, judge, and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, were deposited in the Library of Congress in 2005 and conveyed as a gift to the Library upon his retirement from the Supreme Court in 2010. A subsequent addition covered by Stevens’s gift agreement was received in 2022 via the Supreme Court and his estate.
The bulk of the papers were deposited in 2005, which was the final full term that Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice O’Connor served. In 2010, after Stevens retired, the remainder of his papers as a sitting Justice were deposited. Finally, the last tranche of papers was deposited in 2022, three years after his death.
Different justices have taken different approaches to releasing their papers. Chief Justice Rehnquist’s papers will only be released after all of the Justices who served at that time have died–not just retired. For example, after Justice Stevens died, the Rehnquist collection would release the papers from 1976 through 1981, when Justice O’Connor joined the Co
Article from Reason.com
