[Founding Father]

It is unbelievable that the White House was caught off guard by O'Connor's announcement. Rehnquist has maintained for years he wants to be the longest serving Chief Justice and needs several years to reach that goal. Plus, he is getting stronger every day, is a widower with nothing else to do and is deeply in love with the robe. It's been clear for months that O'Connor was going.

I would love to see Garza replace O'Connor and Brown fill the next opening (although if it is the CJ position, there is a part of me that would like to see Thomas get it and Brown take his spot).

I personally do not think Ginsburg or Stevens will leave the USSC alive (although Stevens is a Rockefeller republican, which come to think about it, is what Bush is).

[Finalapproach29er]

Sound thinking. What do you think of Judge Clement?

Bush will pander to white women, don't you think?

He can't have 8 men on the court when/if Roe ever gets struck down.

[Tarkin]

although Stevens is a Rockefeller republican

Stevens is not even a Rockefeller republican. Harold Burton and Potter Stewart were Rockefeller republicans but not him. He acted like a "moderate" at the beginning of his tenure (f.ex. supporting death penalty, opposing racial quotas) but now is indistinguishable from Ginsburg. He is practically Jim Jeffords in a robe.

[YaYa123]

Yes, it is quite unbelievable the White House would be caught off guard. So why give credibility to "a staffer for a Senator sitting on the Judiciary Committee."?

[justshutupandtakeit]

You obviously don't have a clue as to what a Rockefeller Republican is. Or Bush for that matter.

[Common Tator]

It is unbelievable that the White House was caught off guard by O'Connor's announcement.

What makes you think that they were. The media was caught off guard because they can't remember what they reported just two years ago.

The Media said the adminstration was caught off guard when the Soviet Union collapsed. No one on the inside of the Reagan administration, as was George H.W.Bush, was surprised when the Soviet Union collapsed. Reagan had predicted it and based our foreign policy on that prospect. But the media was surprised when what Ronald Reagan said was going to happen, happened and said that Bush 41 was surprised as well.

What is proved over and over is that the media can lie to us and we believe it. There were many stories in 2003 that said O'Conner wanted to to retire. There were several stories that said Bush asked O'conner to wait until 2005 to retire so there would be more Republicans in the Senate to confirm her successor.

The question was never is O'Conner going to retire in 2005. It was all over the media in 2003 that she was!!!! Every one with who could remember something for more than a year and a half knew she was going to retire after this term. They also knew it she was staying until the end of the 2005 session at the request of the President.

The only question was the timing. If the President asked her to wait until 2005 to retire and she agreed... Do you think it likely that the President knew she was going to retire in 2005?

It was so reported in 2003 by both NOVAK and Krauthammer.