On the contrary. Mr. Bush could nominate anyone he wished to. It is not clear that, after Mr. Robert's hearing, a better qualified nominee would have been rejected. In any case, it is best to actually be defeated before acting defeated.
"It is not clear that, after Mr. Robert's hearing, a better qualified nominee would have been rejected."
Exactly! The assumption that the senate would have rejected a well-qualified conservative is an absurd rationalization. We just passed one with 78 votes!!!
And he still has to get them CONFIRMED. You can spout off candidates without having to worry about that.
Oh, the rumblings were all out there from various key Senators if you bothered to look. Just about every pundit, left and right, agreed that the Dems would give this nominee a harder time than Roberts.
Precisely. If another Roberts had been chosen the Dems would have had the same problem of independent voters vs their activist base and they would have gone with independent voters.
Most Americans accept that the Supreme Court is supposed to consist of first rate legal minds, not cronies trusted for their loyalty. Roberts was a first rate legal mind. Another Roberts would have gotten the same level of independent support.