The Death of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist
Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist died last night. What happens now?
I guess the good news is that Rehnquist was so conservative that it’s going to be hard for President Bush to come up with someone as conservative that won’t give him a lot of headaches during the nomination process.
The president’s choice could be affected by the fallout from Hurricane Katrina. Bush is facing so much criticism and has sunk so low in the polls that he may choose a more moderate nominee.
“If he ever thought about putting forward a hard-nosed conservative, in the wake of Katrina and the negative publicity he’s received, this is not the time to pick a political fight” [...]
Gonzales is believed to be more moderate than the other candidates and more likely to win Democratic support. (source)
What does it say for where we are in this country when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is considered a moderate?
My prediction is that the President will come up with someone who is a bit more moderate than Rehnquist (there are rumors that he may even ask Justice O’Connor to postpone her retirement, although I don’t think that will happen). The conservatives won’t like that. They will feel that this is a prime time for him to change the balance of the court once and for all.
To counter this, I suspect the President will promote either Justice Scalia or Justice Thomas to Chief Justice. That’s my prediction.
This is not good for gay Americans. But then again, what did we expect? Disappointment can only happen with the expectation of something better.
Our day in the sun will come some day. Tonight, I briefly got caught up in 60 Minutes. They had a segment about todays generation - college age children. They were talking to a group of about 20 kids. They were asking various questions and mentioned that these kids want all citizens to be able to share equally in what society has to offer. To show this point, they asked the group how many of them support gay marriage.
Every single hand went up without hesitation. The cast of the news show was taken back by that and said, “All of you?”. That spoke very loudly to me and gave me a lot of hope.
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I saw that same piece on 60 minutes and my reaction was basically the same as your's. There may be hope for this country after all.
The young people I talk to aren't even phased by my being gay. They don't think it is remarkable, unusual, negative -- to them it is just the way it is. "Like, so what?"
I'm predicting a major clash between this young generation and Bush's conservative Supreme Court in the decades to come. Imagine what those kids grow up to be legislators will do when the judges keep striking down their new progessive laws.