The Supreme Court Battle....or is it?

When Alberto Gonzales was appointed to replace John Ashcroft there was a lot of speculation the Bush was setting him up for an appointment to the Supreme Court. He is now being mentioned as a replacement for Sandra Day O'Conner. Steve Soto has some thoughts on what that might mean so I'm not going to go into that directly. As is usually the case the upcoming replacement of O'Conner is not a simple conservative-liberal battle but a number of battles within battles and the implications could be huge.
For starters the unity between the corporatists and the social conservatives that has resulted in the Republican's hold on power is collapsing. The Mullahs of the Radical Christian Right are now demanding more than the vast majority of Americans will tolerate. This became obvious to many Republicans during the Terri Schiavo debacle. The Republicans can also read the polls and in excess of 70% of the population want Roe VS Wade to stand. President Bush recently admitted as much.

The intensity of Bush's commitment to social conservatives' agenda is unclear. For example, the president says he backs a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, but he has never made it a top legislative priority. He opposes abortion but has said repeatedly that the country isn't ready to ban it.

Some Republicans in a position of power are beginning to realize that pandering to the radical Christian Right may destroy the influence of the party on a national level. The Evangelical Christians may have served as the Republican foot soldiers but the corporatists are still the bankers. The Republican leadership and the Democratic leadership have something in common, they don't want Roe VS Wade over turned. The Republicans realize that if it is over turned it would make it difficult for them to get elected in the future. The Republicans would lose the moderates and the libertarians.

So what about Bush himself? The American Taliban got him elected. His father may have lost because he appointed Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter and upset the religious right. Well Bush is already re-elected and the American Taliban that was an asset during the election is now a liability when it comes to getting his primary agenda through congress. A bloody lengthy battle over a Supreme Court will bring the Senate to a stand still and jeopardize Republican chances in 2006.

The bottom line is the battle may be a faux battle designed to pander to the extremes on both the right and the left. In the end don't be surprised to see a right of center moderate taking Sandra Day O'Conner's place after a made for TV mock battle in the Senate.