The President’s Plate Is Getting Full

J.J. Jackson* | September 4, 2005

*My choirs of angles sing thee to thy rest Chief Justice William Rehnquist!*

Commentary:
With the passing of Chief Justice Rehnquist President Bush now has a second Supreme Court vacancy to fill. On top of the War on Terror, the devastating effects of Katrina, the nomination of John Roberts for the vacancy left by Sandra Day O’Connor, and increasing heat about border security (just to name a few things) this adds just another helping to President Bush’s plate. It also means that the political opposition is going to gear up for a fight.

It’s hard to see how John Roberts will be handled. The rabid left is in attack mode against him because he is potentially much further to the right than the woman he is slated to replace. But the Senate does seem all that eager except for a few members to put up a fight.

President Bush should tweak the far left that always like to paint conservatives as racists and tap Clarence Thomas to be Chief Justice. I personally think that he is extremely qualified for the post and no I don’t say that because of the color of his skin either. I say that because I have read this man’s opinions and his intellect dwarfs any of the remaining members except one - Justice Scalia. He and Scalia are both equal intellectually.

But no matter what President Bush does with regards to the highest position on the Court, Rehnquist’s replacement is sure to be another Constitutional Originalist. Which means watch for calls from the left for the President to select (what they would consider) a more “moderate” nominee since Roberts is seen as being much more conservative than O’Connor already.

They will talk about “balance” on the court which is actually code for make sure that there are at least 4 strong activist judges and one or two schizophrenics that sometimes follow the constitution and sometimes don’t. That way they can still hopefully hold on to decisions like Roe v. Wade.

No doubt it would have been better to not have a second vacancy until after Roberts was confirmed and certainly not until long after Hurricane Katrina?s devastation had passed. But this is the situation we are in. And the court cannot reconvene with two vacancies and a balance of power shifted to the liberal end of the court.

Watch for the political left to cry no matter what President Bush does in the coming weeks. If he spends time interviewing for Supreme Court Justices he will be accused of ignoring the suffering of Katrina. If he focuses on Katrina he will be accused of neglecting the Supreme Court.

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