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Monday, September 05, 2005 

I Hate Being Right All the Time

Bush nominates Roberts for Chief.

The Senate has delayed the hearings by a few days in light of the hurricane, but I think that the pressure is on. The Court needs a Chief, if only for symbolic purposes. I think Roberts is in by the first Monday in October. The real question is will he wear the normal black robe or will he keep Rehnquist's flashy gold striped number. I think he should turn the gold robe into a new tradition. I think it's sharp.

We get into a weird area with O'Connor. She is technically still on the Court but wants out. There is no strong reason for her to stay on the Court when the next term begins. The only small reason I can think of is opinion assignment. If her vote (as opposed to an empty chair) directs the authoring of the opinion in a favorable direction (favorable to me), then it would be good for her to be there. However, if she hears a case and is then replaced, her vote does not count. Her vote doesn't count unless she is sitting at the time the case is decided. That is unlikely because it takes at least two months for non-controversial cases, and three plus for the closely divided cases where her vote really has impact. That time frame is courtesy of SCOTUS.

President Bush needs to get O'Connor replaced quickly. I've read the name Edith Clement more and more often since Roberts was named for Chief. I certainly could see that. There might be some political hacks that say this only just a PR stunt because her offices are in New Orleans. That's crap because people thought she was going to be the pick the day of Roberts' original nomination. She certainly is worthy of the nomination and I think that there still is pressure to get another woman on the Court.

EDIT: I will be checking Tradesports a few times during the day to see if they've got their odds up on the new nomination. So far, they only have the Roberts confirmation and number of votes odds up. I'm interested to see if they put the same names of potential nominees as last time (minus Roberts of course) or if there will be additions/deletions.

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