Supreme Court

[sue_n_julia]

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor just announced her retirement. This concerns me greatly - especially if Chief Justice William Rehnquist retires as well. I do not want Mr. Bush to have so much control over shaping the legal opinions for the future. I do not trust him to make judgements that will benefit the American people instead of his cronies. We have only to look at his selections for the appellate courts to see that he has a history not of choosing the best jurists for critical positions but of choosing his supporters. I can think of a few exceptions, but not many.

S

Comments

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

In some ways it is still better than the way Israeli supreme court justices are chosen. There is a commitie, but it is headed by the chief Justice, and in general he gets his way. So you get a court that tends to perpetuate as a monoculture, in a country that is anything but.

At least the 2 seats that will probably be open are both from justices where were right wing to start with so it does not represent a huge shift in the court. (Small consolation I know)

[(Anonymous)]

Disagree- O'Conner often voted on the left, including multiple abortion-rights cases.

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Much as I didn't care for Kerry (and even less for Gore Junior), I don't care for Bush fils either. And given the current makeup of the Senate, I'd rather have seen Kerry nominating SC justices. I only hope the moderate Republicans will figure out that this is the time to block the real extremists.

I'm not happy about the Clinton nominees to the SC, but this has the potential to be much worse.