perfidy

Chief Justice Rehnquist Dies at His Home

This, of course, was utterly predictable as a short-run event right after Rehnquist said, several weeks ago, that he was not planning to retire, and would serve as long as he was able.

The shit, as they say, is fixing to hit the fan, and the partisan flames will be doused in Sterno starting Tuesday. Soon, everyone's going to be wondering why they made such a big deal about John Roberts. I await with great anticipation and not just a little trepidation the name of the nominee for this new vacancy.

No anticipation, only trepidation, regarding the soon-to-be-unleashed heart-rending flood of messages from special interest groups wanting money from me to fund their campaigns in support of/opposition to whichever poor bastard is nominated.

Marvelous.

[wik] It's started. Alan Dershowitz & Chuck Schumer have lit what appear to be the first two bags of dog poo. After perhaps one more such prank from the Left, I'd expect that Pat Robertson or some such other wingnut drops the first stinkbomb from the Right prior to end of day, Sunday.

[alsø wik] Well, damn - that was clearly one of the strategic possibilities, but not guaranteed in any way, and not one that I thought would be chosen - Bush Nominates Roberts for Chief Justice. Notwithstanding that there's still a lot of chaff emanating from the right about Roberts being "another David Souter", Bush claims that the people have had a chance to see him and they like him. This, therefore, will make filling the Chief Justice's slot all that much more efficient. Mind you, Harry Reid says this changes everything in the confirmation process, but also mind you, Harry Reid is an asshat.

As for people getting to know about Roberts these last several months and becoming comfortable with him: That may be true, but in my case, the thing I think is most attractive about him is that last I checked. Ann Coulter doesn't like him at all. Not to pick on Ann, whom I find bright, articulate, endlessly amusing to read, and generally wrong in intensity if not direction, but I try to only allow myself one standard deviation from the center, and if Roberts is on her shitlist for not being radical enough, that might make him good enough for me.

Also, perhaps unlike those better informed on matters than I, I don't consider there to be much practical difference between an Associate Justice and the Chief Justice, beyond ceremonial matters. Having had Rehnquist, whom Alan Dershowitz called "a right-wing thug", in the Chief Justice's seat hasn't had any absolute impact in the direction of the Court's rulings.

Nevertheless - I think it appropriate to row back. Roberts' confirmation will clearly get even more interesting, and the choice for the other open slot, the better to let Ms. O'Connor retire, will be comparatively boring. Just to retain symmetry, however, maybe they can choose a woman who used to date John Roberts. What are the odds of that, I wonder?