Roberts for Chief Justice
Posted by Moonage on 05 Sep 2005 | Tagged as: The Legal Process
This is a shrewd move. Not sure I agree with it simply because I prefer moving someone up the ladder as opposed to bringing in a new "kid". However, given the seniority situation left by the vacuum of O’Connor’s exit, the two most obvious selections would have politically been Thomas or Scalia, neither of whom I would like to have seen at the top. So, Roberts is a good as any other option given. Secondly, the Dems initially fell all over themselves over Roberts, as the media pretty much did as well. This takes a lot of the punch out of any attack the Dems might have wanted. They know the person at the top’s going to be conservative, it’s just a matter of degree. Roberts, given the options now available, has to be the most appealing realisitically to the left. I think this will actually speed up his confirmation.
1 Comment »
on 05 Sep 2005 at 8:03 pm 1.Bryan Kerwick
said …
This is a masterpeice of political acumen. No shot for the Dems to hold up Thomas or Scalia which they would have done effectively.
Once Roberts gets confirmed, the next logical step for the President is to appoint Janice Rogers Brown to the last vacancy.
The Democrats will have an extremely hard time defeating her after confirming her a few months earlier, especially since she is a woman and a minority.
They can bitch and moan all they want , but in a chess analogy, this is check-mate for the Court for a very, very long time. Now if only Stevens would retire.