My goodness - Theodore always sees the negative side of things...
one of our most unreliable "republican" votes on USSC retired. And they did it at a time when Hillary isn't President ... this is GOOD.
I'm optimistic: Bush will nominate someone who will have a better record for conservatives than OConnor. He will not nominate Gonzalez (and the reason he won't is simple: He just moved him into an important job 6 months ago.)
Short list: Luttig, Garza, Cornyn, McConnell.
I'm betting on Luttig - Bush likes to push all his chips on the table and Luttig is a real conservative. Dems will have fits, yet Luttig is the most qualified nominee out there.
Expect the 'nuclear option' pulled sometime in October to get Luttig on the bench, and a 58 yes - 42 vote confirming.
And...FDR moved HST into the vice presidency on Jan. 20, 1945, but by April 12, HST had left the vice presidency forever. Also, many attorneys general often serve for short periods of time, as with former Senator Saxbe in the Nixon administration? Or was it Ford?