Roberts Scare Seizes the Campaign Trail

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: The Courts
Courtin' the Left and Right: Roberts Scare Seizes the Trail

....Roberts's seizure during a Maine vacation this week may not mean anything in terms of his longevity on the court but it certainly offered a reminder that anything can happen at anytime. If there were a sudden, unexpected vacancy -- and remember, Roberts is the young whelp compared to his brethren, ranging in age up to John Paul Stevens at 87 -- it would transform not only the Bush presidency but the campaign to succeed him. And even if not, the Roberts health scare pointed out again the stakes in 2008 with the future of the court on the line.

After all, the court term that ended this summer was the first full session featuring both Roberts and Samuel A. Alito Jr., Bush's other appointee, and the shift to the right has been notable on issues ranging from gender discrimination to desegregation to partial-birth abortion, thrilling conservatives and alarming liberals. An increasing number of Americans worry that the court is going too far to the right in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll -- 31 percent compared to 19 percent in July 2005 when Roberts was first nominated. The proportion that thinks the court is generally balanced in its decisions has fallen from 55 percent to 47 percent in that time period.

So what would happen if another seat opened on the court before Bush leaves office? All-out war, probably, and one that would become a leading issue on the campaign trail as well as in the capital. Some Bush advisers believe a new Supreme Court fight would be the best chance for him to influence his legacy, while some Democrats would try to block any appointment even 18 months before the end of his presidency....

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Even if there is not a nomination battle between now and November 2008, the candidates on the trail are focusing on the likelihood that the next president may have two or three seats on the court to fill....

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Not that they're getting ahead of themselves or anything, but some are already projecting who Democrats would appoint to the court should they win next year. Tom Goldstein, who heads the Supreme Court practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, came up with a list of 30 likely Democratic nominees on the popular SCOTUS blog, then narrowed it down to the four likeliest choices for a first appointment -- Judges Johnnie Rawlinson and Kim McLane Wardlaw of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit; and Leah Ward Sears of the Georgia Supreme Court. His five predictions for a second or third seat under a Democrat: Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan and Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District.

None of them, it is fair to say, is much like Roberts or Alito. And so the stakes for the campaign are clear for both sides.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/08/02/courtin_the_left_and_right_rob.html?hpid=topnews

[Me.]

1. A Recent Poll Said Americans Think The Court Has Veered Too Far Right

As for the choices listed, I would hope that we wouldn't take good democratic governors out of their states.