What a refreshingly intuitive nomination: alleged President Bush has selected none other than Arizonan Sandra Day O'Connor to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Of course, since she is officially "stepping down," Bush has to accomplish this sleight of hand by appointing a string of utterly unqualified replacements who will be eaten alive by the Senate. After all, O'Connor has promised to remain on the Court until her replacement is confirmed by the Senate.
Let's look at the merits of the O'Connor nomination to succeed herself:
Let's look at the merits of the O'Connor nomination to succeed herself:
- She's female.
- She's fairly conservative, but within the mainstream, and thus at least marginally acceptable to a broad spectrum of political factions.
- She's from the West, preserving some geographic diversity on the Court.
- She's not from the Ivy League.
On the other hand, there are some drawbacks:
- She's said she doesn't want the job any more.
- John McCain is also from Arizona, and Bush doesn't want to give him any appearance of support. After all, McCain opposes wholesome, all-American torture of detainees.
- While she did vote for him in the Presidential election of 2000-12-12, her personal loyalty to the alleged President isn't a given in the future.
On the whole, nominating Sandra Day O'Connor to the vacancy created by her own retirement wasn't the worst decision Bush could've made — after all, he could've appointed a completely unqualified crony or something — but I would say her chances of confirmation in the Senate don't look good.
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