Chief Justice Roberts

Hugh Hewitt wrote yesterday:

My hope is that if President Bush looks to a sitting federal appeals court judge to replace Chief Justice Rehnquist, that he switch the Roberts nomination to the position of Chief to accomplish that transition quickly and then follow with the nomination of Judge Luttig from the Fourth Circuit to fill the O'Connor vacancy. Judge Luttig's reputation for intellect, integrity and good humor as well as his long service on the bench make him as qualified as Judge Roberts.

I don't often disagree with Mr. Hewitt, but this is one of those times.

I continue to believe John Roberts will be the conservative we hope for, at least until the hearings prove otherwise. However, Roberts has almost no history that proves that perspective — plenty of opportunities for advocacy in front of the court, which may or may not indicate his personal views of law; loads of documents from his time in government service, which also may or may not indicate his personal views of law; and a few opinions from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, most of which reveal very little.

I want more of a history from the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

I also dislike this decision because, under the scenario of replacing Sandra Day O'Connor with Roberts, his hearings would have started tomorrow and he likely would have been confirmed by the time the court sessions opened in October. Even that's not great, considering a tie vote at the Supreme Court level means the lower court ruling is upheld.

Now, his hearings are destined to be delayed by Democrats and Democrat-in-hiding Arlen Specter, which means only seven justices will be seated in October. That's a liberal majority with Stevens, Ginsburg, Breyer, & Souter/Kennedy. Roberts, if he's confirmed as Chief Justice, might not hit the court until November, meaning a month of lunacy. O'Connor's replacement, whomever it may be, won't be on the court until probably 2006. That's three months of idiocy.

Bad move, Mr. President. You could have left Roberts in place and nominated a solid conservative to replace William Rehnquist, someone like Mr. Hewitt's suggestion of Michael Luttig. Instead, you leave the court flailing for months, with decades of possible consequence.

UPDATE: I just heard two things that make this even worse: 1) If O'Connor's successor is not confirmed by October, O'Connor will return to the court, which is a crapshoot at best; and 2) If Rehnquist's replacement is not confirmed by October, the seat is occupied by the senior justice on the court, which is (heavy sigh) John Paul Stevens.