Why Rehnquist retirement is a GOOD thing

[wtmusic]

If O'Connor's position was the only one to fill, Junior would go for the jugular and nominate a hardcore conservative.

But if that happens with one of two vacancies, Democrats will be perceived as having the right to demand a liberal in the other chair. Net effect: the balance of power has gone nowhere.

[diddlysquat]

1. Hmmmmmmmm.....

[tk2kewl]

2. he certainly can't get away with two wingnut appointments to the SCOTUS

simultaneously, so i think you're on to something there

[wallwriter]

4. Oh, but he'll try

Sane people might favor balance, moderation, fairness, etc. but the right wing wackaloons think that anything but an ultra fascist on the bench is a failure...

[tk2kewl]

9. good. let him try.

i don't know the details of the "compromise" but two right-wing ideologues would qualify as "extraordinary circumstances" to me

[Baconfoot]

5. Methinks thou doth mistake how things should be with how they are NT

[napi21]

7. Why do you say he can't get away with 2 wingnuts?

That's exactly what the RW nuts want! If they can, they want all NINE to be RW!

You say he can't gte away with it, but I bet he'll sure try!

[Sandpiper]

3. What makes you think that Bush will be accomodating?

Especially when the Democrats have done nothing for the past 5 years but roll over and say "please don't hurt us Mr. Bush."

Bush is going to nominate a pair of christo-fascists.

[Benhurst]

6. I fear you are right.

[wtmusic]

10. Just more ammunition when they try to go nuclear on us

and will exacerbate chimp's public opinion problem.

[kenny blankenship]

21. Which they have all but promised to do

in spite of whatever Democrats THOUGHT they had agreed to.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. It's a bad thing

It means that there will be TWO golden opportunities for us People Of Leftness to fall into cathartic orgies of self-destruction over either not having enough "balls" and being guilty of "treason", OR, of failing to negotiate well enough with Team Bush.

Either way, we lose.

--p!

[wtmusic]

11. That's assuming Harry Reid will lie down

No particular evidence to support that from what we've seen so far

[many a good man]

12. Torquemada is about as moderate as we can hope for

But even a Chief Justice Torquemada will piss off the culties and they'll roast Bush on a spit.

Dem leaders need to avoid litmus tests and personalities. Must turn the spotlight on issues. All of his appointments want to take away our freeedoms, ruin the environment, enrich corprorations and generally destroy this country. The battle is hopeless but if we play our cards right we can come away with a moral (and potentially political) victory.

[EC]

13. I think you're dreaming

to break Roe v Wade, he needs 2 judges...the vote was 6/3, so 2 more conservative judges would make it 4/5, and with the Repuges polls hitting so low, they have to deliver something big...And Bush doesn't give a shit what the Democrats want or think, or how it will appear if he chooses two conservative picks....

My 2 cents....They knew Renquist was going to retire, so they needed one more, I think they pressured O'Conner out....

[many a good man]

14. Rehnquist was one of the three

so they'll still need another after these two. Plane crash?

[kenny blankenship]

20. J.P. Stevens is 85

He won't last out the 2nd term. Even though placed on the Supreme Court by a Republican (Ford) he is what passes for a liberal these days.
Oh yeah and Ginsburg is 72 and has had cancer. Don't count on her being around to watch the next inauguration either.

[delete_bush]

15. I don't believe there are but a few who

will perceive that Democrats will have the "right" to demand a liberal. Where exactly does this right come from?

I can't say that I've even read anyone at DU who thinks there's a chance in hell that we'll get even a soon-to-be-extinct moderate republican, much less a liberal. No way.

[Kazak]

17. Well, what it does is,...

it gives Democrats the justification for invoking the filibuster.

[unblock]

16. interesting possibilities if the seat(s) go unfilled

o'conner will serve until her replacement is chosen, but rehnquist might not (he might not be able even if he wants to).

this raises the possibility of having an 8- or even 7- justice court, with usual 5-4 decisions becoming 4-4 or even 3-4.

of course, this assumes that democrats filibuster like hell. under the circumstances, i think the should. especially if the rove thing gains traction in the public perception.

try this on for size: 'traitors don't get to appoint supreme court justices.'

[kenny blankenship]

18. Sorry, Democrats have no rights in a One Party State

No rights that a God fearin' Republican man is bound to respect to paraphrase Chief Justice Roger B. Taney's famous dismissal of the civil rights of African-descent persons within the United States.

And Liberals, according to Ann Coulter among others, should be threatened with death at random intervals, so they'll know where they stand in the new order of things.

I think maybe we're behind the times in speculating on what Democrats are in a position to demand as a right.

[Rosco T.]

19. I look forward to the CatFight between Scalia &Thomas for Chief Justice

[MercutioATC]

22. I see it differently.

I see this as a chance for him to double up on his hardcore nominations. He'll get one hard-liner and one moderate out of the deal...

...net loss for us.

[wtmusic]

23. Well we knew that at least two would retire

and it's all timing. Harry Reid will fight a second conservative nominee to the hilt, Frist will go nuclear, and Democrats will shut down the Senate. It's gonna happen.

That's where things get dicey, but Reid has been proving himself quite capable in the spin department. And with Junior's approval in the toilet my money says the Republi-rats will bail on the administration to get re-elected.

[MercutioATC]

24. Bush doesn't need to get justices confirmed,he just needs to nominate them

The religious right is abandoning him in droves. Even if he can't get a confirmation, nominating a conservative judge or two will gain at least some of that support back. If they don't get confirmed, he can just blame Congress.