U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, leader of the court's liberal wing, on March 8 told the New Yorker that he will decide in early April whether he will serve for another term, the Bloomberg/Boston Globe reports.

Stevens, the court's longest-serving justice and its oldest member at age 89, was appointed by President Ford in 1975. He supports abortion and gay rights, as well as limits on government support for religion. He was the only justice to say that the death penalty is unconstitutional (Bloomberg/Boston Globe, 3/16).

For the term beginning in October, Stevens has hired only one clerk, the number allotted to retired justices. In the New Yorker interview, Stevens said, "I still have my options open" (Liptak, "The Caucus," New York Times, 3/15). However, he said he definitely plans to step down before President Barack Obama's presidential term ends in January 2013 (Bloomberg/Boston Globe, 3/16).

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