Friday, July 15, 2005

London Bombing

Terrorists have bombed London.
This is indeed unfortunate.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Sandra Day O' Connor Retires From The Supreme Court: Implications

Oh, boy. Here we go. News sources have just announced that Sandra Day O' Connor, a judge on the Supreme Court, has retired. If you have been paying attention to the current political climate, you'd know how dangerous this is. If you haven't, here's a brief overview.

It's no secret that the Democrat and Republicans are divided throughout the federal levels of government. The House and the Senate are almost split evenly along party lines. Every action is scrutinized. A single appointment by George W. Bush has taken a long time, especially highlighted with the John Bolton case, Bush's pick for UN Ambassador. He has yet to clear the Senate, first because of Democratic filibustering, and now because the Republicans, thanks to the filibustering, can't rally enough votes.

The Supreme Court has been another highlight of this struggle. With many of the justices over 70 and Chief Justice William Rehnquist becoming increasingly frail, the chance that Bush would need to appoint new justices was evident. Once again, Democrats kept on filibustering every single one of his nominations. This almost lead to the nuclear option in the senate, which would have completely wiped out the rules.

Now with O' Connor gone, real problems arise. Bush now HAS to appoint a new justice. That doesn't mean that the Democrats will cooperate, quite the opposite. If they so much as dislike the candidate's hair color, they're going to send him or her to kingdom come.

Finding the right person is going to be a balancing act for Bush. His goal, of course, is to appoint a conservative Bible thumper who'd be his puppet in rulings. The Democrats don't like this, but the Republicans sure do. There is going to be an all out Senate war to see which candidate will make it through.

Perhaps Bush will be smart, and will instead choose a candidate that satisfies both parties. Perhaps he will become wise and choose a moderate to replace O' Connor. But then again, this is Bush that we're talking about. We're all doomed.