Well, I have to admit. That is not who I thought would retire.
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by John Cole| 12 Comments
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Report: Rehnquist has Resigned
In the Agora: Rehnquist “According to a source very close to the Bush administration, US Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has submitted his resignation to President Bush. Apparently they are waiting until the Supreme Court’s term ends this…
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O’Connor, Not Rehnquist?
I have always assumed he would submit Gonzales for O’Conner, so if she retires first this makes sense. It does not make sense to advance him to CJ when Rhenquist does retire.
Steven
Actually, O’Connor retiring is a bigger deal than Rehnquist. O’Connor and Kennedy are the swing votes on the court. If a justice who is more predictably in the Rehnquist-Scalia-Thomas camp is appointed and confirmed, it would give Kennedy even more clout. The court would effectively be 4-4-1. As a result, my guess is the Ds will fight harder over O’Connor’s replacement than over Rehnquist’s.
James Emerson
Should be interesting if Bush nominates AG Gonzales, as is the rumour.
Nominating the architech of torture as a Supreme Court justice would certainly fire up the Democratic opposition. Especially so when you consider their success against Bolton has them momentarily on the offense. And Senator/Presidential candidate Biden would relish the prospect of having Gonzales explain in excruciating detail his legal interpretation of “quaint.”
Jeff Maier
Frankly, coming from this administration, I’d welcome a Gonzales appointment. He was nearly rational in the Texas court and is probably much more moderate than anyone else who I’ve heard mentioned as a possibility.
NOTE: This is not to imply in any fashion that I’m a fan of Gonzales but he’d be a much lesser evil than Olson, Owens (my fear — replace with another woman) and their ilk.
Jeff Harrell
Bleh. It seems like everybody’s been accused of being an architect of torture at one point or another. Just last week the girl at the grocery-store check-out called me a war criminal because I asked for paper instead of plastic.
James Emerson
To legalize torture Bush had to circumvent three long established and universally recognized legal obligations: The Geneva Conventions; The UN Convention Against Torture; and the UCMJ.
But in all fairness…Bush broke international and domestic law when he invaded Iraq too.
So he has been consistent if nothing else.
Geoduck
He was nearly rational in the Texas court and is probably much more moderate than anyone else who I’ve heard mentioned as a possibility.
That’s what the guy at the other end of the link is saying; that the hard-core right would be up in arms because AG isn’t hard-core right enough.
Finally, a candidate that everyone can hate!
Tim F
Unfounded rumor.
That said, it’s known that she’s been meaning to retire as soon as she can be sure of a suitably right-wing replacement. So who knows.
Dodd
Astonishingly successful troll-bait here, John.
Anderson
O’Connor is one of the last of the Goldwater Republicans, who ironically (given the Dems’ demonization of Goldwater) became a force for stability and sanity in the GOP. I have always admired about her what her critics detest: her deciding hard cases as narrowly as possible. (Remember when “judicial restraint” was a conservative virtue?)
The likelihood that she will be replaced by a Federalist-Society zealot should be disturbing to Republicans and Dems alike, except (1) revolutionary Repubs who want to tear up the New Deal and (2) revolutionary Dems who want things to get as bad as possible under Repub rule.
Nash
Nominate Patterico and be done with it.