Chief Justice William Rhequist is now dead.

I was fairly surprised when I heard, it was well-know he had cancer, but I had heard no advanced warning that his health had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5304454/


Anyway, this opens up a few major points of contention:

Rhenquist was a conservative, and America's conservatives will make President Bush feel obligated to nominate a conservative to replace him, though not necessarily as Chief Justice.

I would not be surprised if Luttig, the hard-line conservative judge proposed for the last opening, is chosen.

One very interested scenerio I heard back when the first opening appeared, was that Bush might actually nominate Sandra Day O'Conner to replace Rhenquist as Cheif Justice if he retired/died. It was just wishful thinking then, but O Conner said she would consider it (or at least she never said she wouldn't) and I think its a possibility.

Also, this sets up double confirmation hearings, which will be very very interesting.

Looks like Pat Robertson got his wish. If he prays really, really hard, maybe God will kill Clarence Thomas next.

This doesn't bode well for the future of the USA, imho. Even trying to see it from a conservative standpoint, with the rest of the world moving largely towards the left (gay marriage, etc.), I think the US is going to be left behind.

And that can't be good, period. Can it?

Well, there is of course the issue that the Court is probably going to be rather chaotic if they're two judges short.

This doesn't bode well for the future of the USA, imho. Even trying to see it from a conservative standpoint, with the rest of the world moving largely towards the left (gay marriage, etc.), I think the US is going to be left behind.

And that can't be good, period. Can it?

There are a lot of US citizens who would disagree with that statement.

Maybe you're right, maybe not.

But personally, I don't think that simply because there seems to be a liberal shift in some parts of the world, that the US should follow.

Maybe not... but remaining steadfastly where they are, or even moving backwards (as could happen with two new Republican appointees) while the rest of the world moves forward seems foolish.

At the very least, I would imagine, the US should be keeping everything in perspective. But as far as these things go, they seem to think only of themselves.

Which is fair enough - but what long-term consequences could there be as a result?

*shrug*

Interesting position for Bush to be in, to say the least.