Something Wicked Afoot at SCOTUS?

William Kristol thinks he's on to something. And sadly, given his track record and access to deep inside sources, he's proven to be right more often than not when it comes to the beltway rumor mill. His latest "hunch" is a scary one.

O'Connor, Not Rehnquist? And Gonzales to Replace O'Connor?

(1) There will be a Supreme Court resignation within the next week. But it will be Justice O'Connor, not Chief Justice Rehnquist. There are several tea-leaf-like suggestions that O'Connor may be stepping down, including the fact that she has apparently arranged to spend much more time in Arizona beginning this fall. There are also recent intimations that Chief Justice Rehnquist may not resign. This would be consistent with Justice O'Connor having confided her plan to step down to the chief a while ago. Rehnquist probably believes that it wouldn't be good for the Court to have two resignations at once, so he would presumably stay on for as long as his health permits, and/or until after Justice O'Connor's replacement is confirmed.

(2) President Bush will appoint Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to replace O'Connor. Bush certainly wants to put Gonzales on the Supreme Court. Presidents usually find a way to do what they want to do.

Putting the master of torture on the Supreme Court may sound like a worst case scenario, but Kristol also thinks that it will pave the way for Rehnquist to step down later in the year, after O'Connor's vacancy is officially filled, leaving room for Bush to move Gonzales directly up to the Chief Justice slot. Given his relative youth, Gonzales could perch there like a theocon vulture for decades to come.

However, as hard as it may be to believe, even the conservatives may have a hard time swallowing the AG as the head of SCOTUS.

[Bush's] aides will have an argument to make to conservatives (like me) who would be unhappy with a Gonzales pick: Bush would not, after all, be replacing a conservative stalwart like Rehnquist with Gonzales. Gonzales would be taking O'Connor's seat, and Gonzales is likely to be as conservative as, or even more conservative than, O'Connor...

A Gonzales nomination would, in my view, virtually forfeit any chance in the near term for a fundamental reversal in the downward drift of American constitutional jurisprudence. But I now think it is more likely than not to happen.

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. In the long view, the biggest disaster of Bush's holding the White House may not be the Iraq war. It may well turn out to be his power to appoint to the Supreme Court. Getting handed Gonzales for the next forty years may well be our "reward" for the red staters keeping him in office. You think your civil liberties are in trouble now? Wait till Mr. Torture is running the show.