According to Robert Novak and the Bad Politics weblog, Rehnquist is going to send his letter of retirement to Bush this weekend.
Bush is biggest obstacle to a conservative court
July 7, 2005
BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Conservatives who have spent more than a decade planning for this moment to change the balance of power on the Supreme Court are reeling from blows delivered by two dissimilar political leaders: Edward M. Kennedy and George W. Bush. Sen. Kennedy has succeeded with the news media in establishing a new standard of "mainstream conservatism" for a justice. President Bush has put forth "friendship" as a qualification for being named to the high court.
Bush is by far the bigger obstacle in the way of a conservative court. While Kennedy's ploy presents a temporary problem, Bush's stance could be fatal. The right's morale was devastated by the president's comments in a USA Today telephone interview published on the newspaper's front page Tuesday: "Al Gonzales is a great friend of mine. When a friend gets attacked, I don't like it." Bush is a stubborn man, who sounded like he might really nominate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in the face of deep and broad opposition from the president's own political base.
Adding to the tension is word from court sources that ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist also will announce his retirement before the week is over. That would enable Bush to play this game: Name one justice no less conservative than Rehnquist, and name Gonzales, whose past record suggests he would replicate retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on abortion and possibly other social issues. Thus, the present ideological orientation of the court would be unchanged, which would suit the left just fine....
Rehnquist Stepping Down Friday
Bad Politiks weblog
Thursday, July 07, 2005
I just received a note from a friendly source suggesting that Rehnquist will announce his retirement tomorrow. Last Friday morning, this same person told me that O'Connor would step down (3-4 hours before it hit the AP wire)....
Judging from various reports, Bush really seems to want to nominate Gonzales to the court, both for historical reasons (he wants to nominate the first Hispanic) and because, heaven help us, Gonzales is his friend and he's upset about the attacks on Gonzales from both sides -- from liberals because of the torture memos, conservatives because it's thought Gonzales is moderate on abortion. If Rehnquist also retires, Bush could nominate Gonzales to replace O'Connor, and also a very conservative jurist to replace Rehnquist as chief. Or, if he wants to go for Big History, he could nominate Gonzales as chief, and the uberconservative whoever as a regular associate.
If there really is a second simultaneous vacancy, Bush will likely just nominate from outside the Court for the chief justice post. Otherwise, he's going to force the Senate through not one but three judicial confirmation hearings -- you have to be separately confirmed for chief justice if you're already on the Court -- and that would be an even bigger nightmare than this is shaping up to be.
Oh, the summer of love that is shaping to be in DC this year looks just fine, doesn't it? As Bush goes in search for what he's dreaming of, to ease the fire that within him burns (or that burns within the Conservative wallet, anyway), this love he's contemplating is worth the pain of waiting...
UPDATE, 4:21pm CT: according to various reports, Rehnquist doean't plan to announce his retirement today. Pity. I was so looking forward to the Summer of Senatorial Love.....
Posted by iain at July 08, 2005 02:48 PM
