July 01, 2005

A Long, Hot Summer

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor today created the first opening on the high court in almost a decade by sending her retirement letter to President Bush. O'Connor was a swing vote so prepare to see both the Right and Left fight trench warfare to fight for and against Bush's upcoming nominee. One Kossak is already getting his side fired up. Orin Kerr thinks her O'Connor's retirment "may shift the Court a lot less than people think" while Ann Althouse thinks a strong conservative would push Justice Kennedy to the Left.

We will see what dirt Bush's opponents will dig up on the person, whether Senate Democrats "Bork" the nominee, and Sen. John "Maverick" McCain can forge another Senate compromise like he did a few weeks back. Who will first find "extraordinary circumstances" and try to block the nomination? This will be one of the toughest, most exciting nominations in Supreme Court history. Todd Zywicki uses some quick public choice econ to guess it will be a tough fight whoever Bush picks.

So, it seems to me, the Bush Administration would be smart to simply nominate the best person that they want, and not be tricked into thinking that they can somehow avoid a nasty confirmation battle by nominating someone with a more "moderate" perception.

On the wild rumor front, Erick at Redstate.org says Sen. John Cornyn's name is floating around. We will be hearing a lot of this.

"Bush Asks Senate for Fairness on High Court Opening"

"Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Retiring"

UPDATE: Scared Monkeys has a quick and dirty linkfest.

The NY Times has a list of some possible nominees.

Names will be floating around all weekend. I'm guessing Bush won't make a decision until he comes back from G8 meetings.