| Sunday, September 04, 2005 |
| Overload Volume II - The Supreme Court |
I was up late last night. We had seen a couple of Marx Brotherse movies with the kids -- "Family Movie Night" if you will. Thing One hates to fall asleep. Combine that with her being most of the way through Harry Potter IV, and well, sleep doesn't come. I don't like going to bed before they're asleep, my Beloved and I stayed up, waiting for the hush of sleeping children to fall upon the house, and were watching the Hurricane Coverage. Tucker Carlson was interviewing people, and things seemed pretty intense still. There was news that the projected body count will be between 10,000 and 15,000. Wow.
Then in comes the "Special Report- Breaking News" little banner, and there's the news. Chief Justice Rehnquist has died.
Wow. Again. Wow. I was quite stunned.
I was also stunned when O'Connor resigned. Then the Roberts nomination came, and I was mad at my fellow liberals. I felt like they were passing a test, or rather, walking into a trap.
I feel that Roberts is a solid nomination. I feel that there are some unknowns, but because of his relatively short stint on the Circuit Court before this proposed elevation, the unknowns are shared by all. I have a certain amount of respect for his intelligence.
I would hate/do hate to see the Democrats (or is it just the "liberals" - not necessarily those in office who will be voting, but the PAC's ... Moveon.org, and the like) blast Roberts -- to reach and stretch and grope for things *to* blast. And then, when this inevitable event happened - the death (or at the time, potential resignation) of Rehnquist, Bush could appoint a REAL doozy, and then together with his cohorts shake their head and wave off any liberal dissent, any protests, and just say, "that's what they always say." And the Democrats would have lost their credibility, and instead of making some really important points, and fighting a really important fight, take on the appearance of "nit-picking and naysaying."
But now that Rehnquist's passing has come during such a tumultuous time, I am not as certain that Bush will be as extreme. I am not sure he can carry extremism amidst his disaster of an approval rating, and his disaster of Katrina. I am not sure he has every Republican senator in his pocket like he did in November or December.
So, I am hopeful.
And as far as the new Chief Justice is concerned ... I think I prefer that he go ahead and give it to Scalia (as much as I completely disagree with that man), than give it to someone as green as Roberts. News commentators have speculated that Bush will re-nominate Roberts as the Chief Justice. I hope not. [update: surprise, surprise - i don't get what i want while Bush is in office - Roberts has been nominated chief. this really makes me pessimistic about Roberts in general. Bush has *too much* confidence in him for my taste at this point]
So much to be watching. I suppose it is inevitable that the Court will continue to move to the right. But hopefully it won't be as damaging as a worst-case-scenario (i.e., overturning of Roe v. Wade/Casey; turning us into a church-state). And perhaps the new nominees will be more of a Stevens -- appointed by a Republican, yet widely known as a liberal justice (and who will, by the way, be the interim chief justice), or Powell, who has been slowly sliding to the left.
I find it all fascinating, even though slightly scary. |
posted by Zuska @ 5:10 PM   |
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