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Stevens: Latest Bobble Justice

See also: New Bobbleheads on the Block: Supreme Court (NPR, All Things Considered, Oct. 27, 2003)

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C 2003 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. This article is reprinted with permission from Legal Times, a publication of American Lawyer Media. (1-800-933-4317, subscriptions@legaltimes.com, www.legaltimes.biz).

By Tony Mauro, Legal Times, 10-20-2003

Following the successful unveiling of Bobble Chief earlier this year, the irreverent law review Green Bag last week took delivery of the next doll in the series: Justice John Paul Stevens.

By the end of last week, says editor Ross Davies, the first Stevens doll was to be placed on Stevens' desk at the Supreme Court — via a courier Davies won't name.

Davies got a good reception for his earlier rendering of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who sources say laughed hard when presented with his quivering ceramic likeness. And he is hoping for the same positive reaction from Stevens.

"I don't know the man, but I am told that Justice Stevens has a sense of humor too," says Davies, who also teaches at George Mason University School of Law.

As before, the roughly 1,200 Stevens dolls manufactured are not for sale. But one each will be sent to those who were subscribers to the law review as of Oct. 17. After a similar cutoff deprived many fans of their own Rehnquist doll, Davies detected an uptick in subscriptions to the journal — presumably from those who did not want to miss the subsequent justice dolls. Next in seniority is Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and her doll should be ready by next summer, Davies says.

Hours of planning and design go into the dolls as Davis tries to blend irreverence, scholarship, information, and respect — all in one seven-inch statue molded and manufactured by Alexander Global Promotions of Seattle. Each detail has significance specific to Stevens and his career.

The Stevens doll, of course, is wearing his trademark bow tie — but not just any bow tie. It is the red, white, and black-striped specimen that Stevens often wears for formal court photos, Davies says. The white-maned likeness of Stevens is remarkably accurate.

Stevens is depicted standing on a replica of a Sony Betamax Model SL 7200, the ancient video recorder that was at issue in Stevens' 1984 ruling in Sony Corp. v. Universal Studios Inc., which found that the sale of video recorders did not violate copyright law. Davies bought an actual Betamax recorder off eBay to be sure the base of the statue was accurate.

The tape inside the Betamax also has meaning: on its label is the date "8-17-1996." That is when Virginia police taped statements made by Daryl Atkins, the retarded man whose death sentence led to Stevens' 2002 ruling in Atkins v. Virginia, invalidating capital punishment for the retarded.

In Stevens' left hand is Vol. 467 of the U.S. Reports, which is where Stevens' 1984 ruling in Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council can be found. The words of the well-known two-step "Chevron test" for deference to regulatory agencies are printed atop the book in Stevens' hand. "You could cite the bobblehead for the two-step test," says Davies, clearly hoping that some Supreme Court advocate will do just that.

Finally, the most obvious symbol in the doll's design is a golf club and ball. Stevens is an avid golfer, but that is not what Davies aimed to portray. Instead, the golf gear symbolizes another Stevens opinion, the 2001 case PGA Tour v. Martin. The club is a Ping iron, the brand endorsed by Casey Martin, the disabled golfer who successfully sued professional golf seeking accommodation under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

"We didn't want to show any disrespect to Justice Stevens or to anyone involved" in the depicted cases, says Davies, who has gotten positive responses from those who have seen the Stevens doll. "People are taking it as intended, as fulfilling our mission of being useful and entertaining."

Tony Mauro is Supreme Court correspondent for American Lawyer Media and Legal Times. He can be reached at tmauro@legaltimes.com.