As I’m sure you all know by now, William Rehnquist, the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, is dead. A conservative appointee of Richard Nixon, Rehnquist will be best remembered for assisting in the failed impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, voting to stop the Florida recount in 2000, thus handing the election to Bush, and, in a fit of what I can only imagine was “Queer Eye”-inspired mania, redesigning his Chief Justice robes to have a little more pizzazz. Given the current state of affairs in this nation of ours, I think it’s safe to say that he will likely be followed by someone as bad, if not worse.
Earlier this morning, Bush indicated that he would like to see current Supreme Court nominee John Roberts (the judge who, as you’ll recall, smuggled two Irish children through Latin America in order to circumvent the laws of Ireland, which don’t allow foreign adoption) take the position. People For The American Way, and other organizations concerned with women’s rights, civil rights, privacy issues, and the continuing existence of a wall separating church and state, have looked at Roberts’ record and found it to be troubling. As a result, these organizations are taking steps to see that he does not take the bench. If you’d like, you can join me in helping them in this mission, by sending a letter to your representatives, telling them that you do not want a stealth political operative like Roberts (a former employee of the Reagan Whitehouse who assisted Bush with his successful bid to stop the Florida recount in 2000) to be one of the nine individuals determining what we, as American citizens, can and cannot do.
(Bush has a habit of repaying loyalty with undeserved responsibility, and, if you have any doubt as to how foolish this appointment is, just look around at the others who have preceded Roberts — Rice as Secretary of State, Bolton as the head of the American delegation at the UN, Brown at FEMA, and Chertoff at Homeland Defense.ANd then consider that this, unlike the rest, is a lifetime appointment.)
7 Comments
The man has _two_ years experience as a judge, and Bush wants to make him Chief Justice of the United States!
If he’d been on the bench any longer, Jim, he might have left a trail. And we wouldn’t want that… Better to send in a guy with a blank slate. That way no one’s got reason to be concerned.
Why don’t they hurry up and get rid of that pesky Judicial Branch?
I was stunned to hear that he wanted to make Roberts Chief Justice. I guess I always assumed the job just went to the justice with the longest tenure, or at least, someone with SOME tenure on the Supreme Court bench.
Great potential for a commercial… Show all Bush’s friends and appointees, including FEMA’s Mike Brown, and then end with a photo of Roberts saying, “We’ve seen it before. Appointing people with too little experience for jobs way over their heads. The only difference is, this time it’s for life.”
The only upshot to this nomination is the potential for Scalia to keel over w/ the shock outrage of it all.
I was really hoping it was going to be Clarence as that would definately have pushed Scalia right over the edge. I bet there would even be the possibility of his head exploding cartoon style.
Yeah, every lawyer I know, two of whom have been Supreme Court clerks are absolutely gobsmacked.
Customers sux
Who made up all the rules We follow them like fools Believe them to be true Don’t care to think them through