Sandra Day O'Connor retires

[Gatekeeper]

I just want a damn justice who isn't a raving right-winger or a lunatic liberal. I want a man or woman who can look at *all* the angles of any given issue without some sort of ideological shading. But, hey, that's just my wishy-washy spineless moderate view. We need spine in this world! We need someone to lay down the law, damn the consequences! We need a judgmental judge! One whose power comes "on loan" from God!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

**wheezes**

Lord, is it too much to ask for a well-rounded person to be the next justice?

Gatekeeper

[Imran Siddiqui]

Here are some potential nominees:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050701/D8B2MVGO0.html

I'd LOVE if the nominee was McConnell or Roberts, but I'd settle for Wilkinson as well. They also sound like they think through things rather than rigidly follow their own ideology.

[Drake Tungsten]

O'Connor

I don't know why some of you are so surprised she's retiring now, though. She's a Republican through and through.

Now bring on McConnell...

[Ming]

No matter who gets put up, it will be a circus

[Mr. Harley]

I just read that her husband has Alzheimer's. Taking care of a loved one who is mentally deteriorating can take a hideous toll on anyone. My mother's mind was failing in the years before she died, though for other reasons. Watching the brilliant person you love have their mind slowly rot from the inside is hell. We should all say a prayer for her and her husband, and the rest of their family.

[Elok]

McConnell sounded like one of the likeliest to me too, of the 12 possibilities touted by today's Washington Post. I'm inclined to root for him. Of the others, most don't sound too bad; the only one that seems worse than Scalia is Janice Brown, who sounds severely unstable and is probably only on the list as a ploy by W. to make the real nominees look better. Edith Jones does come close to Scaliatude with that machine-gun legalization thing though.

As for Gonzalez...WTF? The man thinks the Geneva Convention should be scrapped, but as long as he's cool with abortions and gay marriage there's no problem from the left? Keep that man the hell away from the SCOTUS, whatever he thinks about "social" issues!

Frankly I doubt that anyone too nuts will be let through, or that the Democrats will be able to stop Bush from appointing a Pro-Lifer if he wants to. Societal trends are against the anti-gay movement getting ground no matter who he appoints, so that's closed too. The seven Dems on the filibuster compromise pledged not to filibuster a SC nominee except under "extraordinary circumstances." The Post listed Sen. John Cornyn as well as Garza and McConnell, who regards RvW as "settled" but would probably vote against it if the opportunity arose. None of those would appear to qualify as "extraordinary."

[Imran Siddiqui]

Gonzales won't get close. Conservative groups have said he is too pro-abortion for them.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Should be fun to watch. I think it's always important to remember that nominees can change when they get that SCOTUS appointment for life. Warren, Brennan, Blackmun, and Stevens were all GOP appointees and are probably 4 of the 5 most liberal justices appointed since WWII (the fifth being Marshall); the GOP's court agenda is still largely devoted to trying to undo teh work of the Warren-Brennan court. Souter has turned out to be way more liberal than Daddy Bush thought he would be, and Breyer has turned out to be more conservative than Clinton thought he would be.