Updated at 12:45 p.m.

After 34 years of service in the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens, 89, announced his retirement today. Here is a roundup of early reaction as President Obama prepares to make his second Supreme Court nomination in as many years.

"Confronted with a court far more conservative than the one he joined, Justice Stevens showed the world what his colleagues already knew: that beneath his amiable manner lay a canny strategist and master tactician, qualities he used to win victories that a simple liberal-conservative head count would make appear impossible," the New York Times salutes.

ABC News also applauds the departing judge: "Although nominated by Republican President Gerald Ford in 1975, Stevens became a hero to liberals voting to limit the use of the death penalty, uphold affirmative action, broaden the core holding of Roe v. Wade and argue for a strict separation of church and state."

Hotline On Call remembers Stevens' 90-page dissent to Citizens United v. FEC: "Stevens has for years used his power as the most senior associate justice to try and build consensus against the Court's conservative wing."

Fox News reports: "In recent years, Stevens maintained that his conservative principles never changed during his time on the Court. Rather it was the justices around him and perhaps the country too that became more conservative than he."

The Washington Post reports that Stevens' "retirement is not a surprise and the White House has been preparing for the opening." But another Post article notes that "a confirmation battle could sidetrack Democratic plans to focus on the economy and job creation ahead of November's congressional elections in which Republicans are hoping to regain control of Congress."

AP reports that "the timing of the announcement leaves ample time for the White House to settle on a successor and Senate Democrats, who control 59 votes, to conduct confirmation hearings and a vote. Republicans haven't ruled out an attempt to delay confirmation."

The Los Angeles Times foresees that Obama "may have to tread more cautiously with this nomination than he did last summer... because Republicans, with 41 votes in the Senate, now have the power to filibuster a controversial choice."

USA Today predicts: "While the identity of Stevens' replacement is unknown, one thing is sure: The latest Supreme Court opening will produce another big political fight in the wake of the bruising battle over health care."

MSNBC skips the memory and heads straight for the horse race: "Many of the same names that were floated last year before Sonia Sotomayor's appointment also comprise the short list. Those replacement names include Solicitor General Elena Kagan, DC Circuit judge Merrick Garland, Seventh Circuit judge Diane Wood and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano."

National Journal's Stuart Taylor Jr. has more on this shortlist: "None of the four is clearly more liberal than Stevens, who is in turn a lot less liberal than, say, the late Justices William Brennan or Thurgood Marshall."

"If the president is casting a wider net," CBS News suggests, "two Democratic governors -- Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Deval Patrick of Massachusetts -- also could be considered."

According to Politico, "other possible contenders are State Department legal adviser and former Yale law dean Harold Koh, 55, who would also become the Supreme Court's first Asian-American justice; and Cass Sunstein, 55, a University of Chicago law professor now overseeing the federal government's regulation-approval unit at the Office of Management and Budget."

And Slate offers an even longer "shortlist" that includes Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, who chairs the TARP oversight board.