A Consistent Choice

Whatever else you may say about Bush's decision to elevate John Robert's nomination from Associate Justice to Chief Justice, say this: it is a consistent choice. For Bush to have selected someone for Chief Justice whom he had already passed over for Associate Justice would have raised a lot of warning flags for me.

Yes, Roberts has a "stunted conception of liberty" and unfortunately his collegial nature will probably help him steer the Court in a conservative direction better than Scalia or Thomas could have done--and his relative youth means he probably will be entrenched there for a long time. But at least everyone agrees he's a brilliant lawyer and not an evangelical nutcase. And it's better for the institution to have a collegial, effective Chief Justice than an ineffective, divisive firebrand. When it comes to Bush's judicial appointments, I think mainstream Americans are going to have to accept this as the best we're going to get out of him.

I urge the Democratic Senators not to turn Judge Roberts' hearings into political game where they just try to trip him up with questions and get him to embarrass himself. This will only embarrass the Senate. Democrats should save their ammo for when Bush nominates more activist judges to the bench, like the ones he shoved through earlier this summer. Meanwhile, I am eagerly awaiting news of Bush's new pick to replace O'Connor. And it's a sign of the deep sense of desperation I feel that I am crossing my fingers and hoping for Alberto Gonzales.