Here's a question to ponder...O'Connor announced her decision to retire when her successor was confirmed...So after Alito is confirmed..purely hyupothetically...if she refused to retire....took a mulligan..decided that she wanted to stay on..what would happen? I think that after this confirmation, congress should address the issue..no more "if/then" retirements..
I agree with you. I think that the announcement of a retirement should be more clear than that, and it's bothered me that O'Connor qualified hers.
Pondered some time ago. I think the President wins. If you ponder to logical conclusion, you reach the question of "If there is no opeing, how can there even be a nomination and hearings?"
I also researched a dozen or so recent retirements, and hers was the ONLY one that was contingent on having a confirmed replacement. All that further lowered my already low opinion of O'Connor.
Funny you should mention that about O'Connor. I was wondering the same thing yesterday. If that situation were to develop - would the SCOTUS (with her abstaining) be the place to rule on it?