So, the reporter asks the most powerful jurist in the nation--Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist--if the rampant rumors today of his imminent resignation are true. And the always eloquent Rehnquist crustily mutters back as he enters an awaiting car, "That's for me to know and for you to find out." That would've been a brilliant comeback had the Chief been 8 years old. Rather, he's an extremely ill 80-year-old, whose highly accomplished career is rapidly coming to a close. I guess the reality of that has settled in. He sure looked mighty frail today. However, I still hold onto my belief that they'll have to carry him out. No resignation. Although I must say I got a little nervous today with all the hullabaloo coming from the pundits who are already restless and bored with the O'Connor resignation. Just one isn't enough for the bloodthirsty Fourth Estate. They want two...even three vacancies. O'Connor, Rehnquist...they even started conjecturing today about the 85-year-old John Paul Stevens who, surely they surmised, must be getting jealous of all this retirement talk. With three vacancies we won't just have a battle, we'll have all-out Armageddon. And that, my friends, sells lots of newspapers and jacks up the cable news ratings. Hell, the media frenzy will be so huge and the need for punditry so insatiable that I just might find myself on Hardball (fantasy) offering up my keen insights to Chris Matthews (idol) and debating Ken Mehlman (even bigger fantasy). For now, the day has almost passed and Rehnquist still has his job. Almost all the media bigwigs think it's a given he'll resign (Bob Novak earlier today said his very trusted, reliable inside source predicted the Chief would step down today) maybe over the weekend now. Perhaps they're right, and I am incredibly naive. Or maybe they're wrong and.........Andy
2 comments:
Have you ever watched The West Wing?
There was an episode where they had to nominate TWO supreme court justices.
Of course the battle lines were drawn quickly and everyone was ready to argue the minor differences within two moderate nominees.
Instead, they had the Republicans name who they would like, and the Democrats balanced it with a liberal.
They arrived at nominations that would provide lively debate to the court rather than mediocrity.
Thoughts?
I think the Republicans will be pushing hard for hard-liners on the bench. They've been waiting for this moment for years.
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