“The Function of the Independent Lawyer as a Guardian of Our Freedom”: The great Stevens dissent in Walters

I was a law student when I first became aware that there was something special about Justice John Paul Stevens. I happened to read his dissent in Walters v. National Association of Radiation Survivors, a statutory interpretation case that is not today much remembered outside the narrow field of veterans’ rights law. There were four opinions in the case. Three of them dealt with issues of statutory interpretation, due process, and appellate jurisdiction. Justice Stevens’s opinion, however, offered something deeper: a vision of the role of independent lawyers in preserving individual liberty. It deserves more attention than it has gotten.

I explain in a new article in a special issue of the Northwestern Law Review, a tribute to Justice Stevens.  I knew him a little bit, since I hold a professorship in his name that his friends endowed for him, but I never told him how much I admired that opinion in particular.  I'm glad for the chance to say so now.