[Stultis]

If I am George W. Bush, and if I were to take politics into consideration on this sort of thing (just as a hypothetical), I'd have word leak out that Clarence Thomas is my first choice for Chief Justice.

I'm pleased and proud to have Clarence on the court. Without detracting from his excellence one bit, he doesn't have the temprament to be chief. The Cheif Justice should be reasonably glib, and be an excellent writer of legal opinions. Thomas doesn't fill that bill.

[hchutch]

I think he is underestimated in that regard. He's smart, and he's written good ones in the past. Furthermore, the mere possibility of his nomination would be interesting.

It's all about making the Dems choose between segments of their base - in a Thomas nomination fight for Chief Justice, either the abortion lobby or African-Americans. I think he is more than capable of handling the job. Scalia strikes me as too abrasive.