One suspects that the White House knew or surmised that Chief Justice Rehnquist was nearing the end when Judge Roberts was picked to succeed O'Connor. There may be a bit more rancor from the Left about Roberts, now that he's moving up to CJ, but he's still a very good bet for confirmation. (Unless a bigger skeleton than his opposition to "comparable worth" emerges from someone's closest.)
Now the question is, who's the pick for O'Connor's seat? I stand by what I said here:
[W]ill Bush . . . nominate a limited-government conservative-libertarian like Janice Rogers Brown? If he doesn't, Bush's slide toward the accommodationist policies of his father will be confirmed. A sad waste of a Republican majority in Congress.
It's showdown time. If Bush fails to nominate someone in the mold of Judge Brown I will withdraw everything I have ever said about the GOP being the last, best hope for the restoration of limited government.
