ConfirmThem

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Uncategorized — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I knew he was sick. I knew that he was very sick. I knew that he was probably dying. And yet, his actual death is shocking for reasons I somehow cannot fully explain. Maybe it is because we are dealing already with such a momentous news week and we collectively thought that we might get some kind of respite or breather as we collectively gathered our thoughts.

It is far too early to tell how the issue of a replacement will be handled, but the White House had better get ahead of the expectations game for its own sake. And quickly. An entire opposition team dedicated towards fighting against any Supreme Court nomination from the Bush Administration found itself defanged by the nomination of John Roberts--given Roberts's obvious intellectual qualifications and the manner in which he has won praise and respect among members of the Establishment. Now, that same opposition team will gear up to fight against the Bush Administration's next nomination--and will smell blood given the President's poll numbers and given the partisan back-and-forth that has developed over Hurricane Katrina. If the White House enters this battle with anything less than total commitment, it will find itself suffering a serious political blow. The prospects are high that a nomination that suffers from even a moderate degree of mismanagement will end up being defeated on the Senate floor--or at the very least, successfully filibustered.

One talking point that should be pushed--and has the virtue of being true--is the argument that since Senate Democrats demanded that Justice O'Connor's replacement be in the mold of Justice O'Connor herself, it would be only fair to demand that the next Chief Justice be in the mold of William Rehnquist. Of course, this talking point won't be embraced by those who advanced it in the wake of Justice O'Connor's resignation, but consistency may be said to matter here. I should note that I stand by my argument that one need not necessarily replace one Justice with another of the same ideological cast--though I certainly want the next Chief Justice to be of the same ideological cast as Chief Justice Rehnquist--but we are not arguing against little old me. We are arguing against Senators Kennedy, Leahy, Schumer and others who are significantly more powerful than little old me.

Lest this be entirely a political post, let me offer the hope that Chief Justice Rehnquist will be remembered for the man that he was instead as a caricature in the minds of others. Deeply brilliant, unfailingly gentlemanly and courteous to all and sundry, blessed with a quick wit and a sense of humor that charmed and endeared, he made a lasting contribution to the Nation's jurisprudence and will be remembered as one of the most consequential Chiefs in the history of the United States Supreme Court. He handled a very fractious Court and widely varying temperaments on it with tact, diplomacy and dignity. Always conscious of his office and its demands, always respectful of the Court and the law it served, he exemplified Robert E. Lee's comment that "Duty is the sublimest word in the English language."

He will be dearly missed by those who identified with his views and even by many who did not but who respected the man even as they took issue with his beliefs.

My deepest condolences to the Rehnquist family. May they find comfort in a time of trial.