Reason Magazine
- reason.com
- reason.tv
- reason.org
- Donate
- Site Search:
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsadvertisements
Rehnquist Has Died
The Chief Justice succumbed to his thyroid cancer Saturday night. Let the battle begin.
|9.4.05 @ 12:38AM|#
Rehnquest was a good man who was always consistent in his beliefs. He will be missed.
|9.4.05 @ 1:00AM|#
He was a very scholarly man. One can find fault with many of his
judgements, but the same could be said of many other judges on many
courts. The difference between Rehnquist and many of those judges
is that he was a prolific author with an eye toward history,
signaling an active intellect. If only every judge made the same
effort to consider his work in the broadest possible context.
Outcomes are good. Outcomes produced by sharp minds are better. And
outcomes produced by sharp minds with respect for history and
context are better still.
|9.4.05 @ 1:55AM|#
Rehnquist was a great chief justice. He will be missed. So...my
predictions (not that anybody asked):
New Chief Justice- Scalia
New Associate Justice- A woman- maybe Edith Jones whose name was
floated the day Roberts got the nod.
The left throws their typical hysterical fits, everybody gets
approved going away.
|9.4.05 @ 2:36AM|#
If Bush raises one of the existing Justices to the Chief Justice spot it will be Thomas, I think.
|9.4.05 @ 2:44AM|#
thoreau,
Crappy historical works don't make one great.
_______________________
He was a judge interested in pushing certain political agendas, and
thus was a conservative in the "policy" sense. I find his and
Burger's attempts to expand Younger abstention in the 1970s and
1980s to be especially galling in that usurped to the Court the
power to determine its jurisdiction, a power which lies almost
entirely with the Congress.
|9.4.05 @ 2:49AM|#
thoreau,
If you are actually interested in what really happened during
Reconstruction, the "corrupt bargain" of 1877, etc. please read (as
a starter) Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished
Revolution, 1863-1877 (it comes in abridged version as
well).
|9.4.05 @ 3:33AM|#
Great timing.
Any suggestions on countries I could go to? I know New Zealand
likes immigrants. Chile looks good, but a little too Catholic. But
it's got some nice vineyards that are probably cheap.
Ugh.
|9.4.05 @ 4:15AM|#
thoreau, hakawut has given you an assignment. We expect the book report by Wednesday, 6 pm.
|9.4.05 @ 4:17AM|#
This pretty much guarantees a vacancy on the Court come
October.
Depending on whom Bush picks, we could have a vacancy into
January.
Silence Dogood|9.4.05 @ 4:33AM|#
Come on guys, let's get Richard Posner in the SC. None of these others guys have the trust in the market necessary for that spot.
|9.4.05 @ 4:49AM|#
I am here to annouce that President Bush's nomination of Insert Name Here to the Supreme Court is unacceptable. We believe that Insert Name Here has shown that he/she is not worthy of the Supreme Court. After all, Insert Name Here has been nominated by a Republican, which we believe to be an automatically disqualifying event in the carreer of Insert Name Here. We look forward to derailing the nomination of Insert Name Here after a completely non-partisan hearing.
|9.4.05 @ 5:29AM|#
At 2:30 AM, strange thoughts wander thru my mind. Such as, Bush
should nominate himself. He'd have to resign before he is sworn in,
but that houldn't be a problem. With W. as Chief Justice, the
fundies would die of orgasm. With Cheney as Prez, the neocon hawks
would die of orgasm. That leaves the small government types in
control of the Republican Party. And we'd all die of
orgasm, if that were to happen.
I gotta stop posting at 2:30 AM.
|9.4.05 @ 6:58AM|#
This should be an easy replacement politically. Bush can nominate a real hard-ass conservative without much ado since his nominee will be replacing a hard-ass conservative. This is nothing. Well, except to the late justice's family and friends, of course. RIP.
|9.4.05 @ 7:01AM|#
Can anyone think of a better way to die then by orgasm? Shit, I
say we go with Portlander's idea. Brilliant!
Give me liberty or give me head,
Robert
Phil|9.4.05 @ 8:00AM|#
Michael Brown is likely to be looking for work
soon...
Not really. Given the track record of the Bush administration, his
behavior in the last seven days puts him in line for a big
promotion. Or a medal.
|9.4.05 @ 8:55AM|#
I kind of liked All the Laws But One.
And although I haven't read his book on the history of impeachment,
it's hard for me to see how a book on such a rarely used procedure
(well, rare at the time it was written, pre-Clinton) could be
construed as pushing an agenda.
My wife has already assigned me a novel that I absolutely must read
so we can discuss it. I'm working my way through the exercises in a
book on finite-element solution of PDE's. I have a stack of papers
on angiogenesis to read. Not to mention that I'm busy climbing the
FEMLAB (Finite EleMent LAB) learning curve.
So I doubt I'll have time to read up on Reconstruction.
Thanks for the thought, though.
|9.4.05 @ 8:59AM|#
Roberts was a bit of a shocker because he appears non-crazy and competent. That really is the maximum you can hope for with this administration. Maybe he'll throw the fundies a bone and nominate Roy Moore or something.
|9.4.05 @ 9:01AM|#
To be clear, I didn't agree with all of the conclusions in All the Laws But One, but I found it informative nonetheless.
|9.4.05 @ 9:16AM|#
I'd bet a lot on Thomas going to Chief Justice. He's still
fairly young and naming him would be one way to perhaps make amends
with the African-American population for some of the clusterfuck
that this last week has been. Yes, black leaders will complain he's
not "really" black, but the I have to believe that for most
African-Americans, the sight of a black Chief Justice will be a
very good thing.
That's especially true when the joke among blacks goes "You know
that at the jail house there's no justice. Just us."
|9.4.05 @ 11:12AM|#
One possibility is that Bush could name Roberts Chief Justice as well as Associate Justice.
|9.4.05 @ 11:50AM|#
Thoreau, before you embarass yourself any further you should
really read Jokerstein's "Angiogenesis in Excruciating Detail" and
volumes 1-10 of Hack's "Finite Element Minutiae."
Not to mention the past 10 years of "The French Journal of
Irrelevant Medical Papers."
I will administer your quiz one week from now.
|9.4.05 @ 12:21PM|#
Depending on whom Bush picks, we could have a vacancy into
January.
2006? Can Hillary, Teddy and co. can hold a filibuster 'til
'08?
|9.4.05 @ 12:39PM|#
"If Bush names Thomas C.J., what does Kanye West say?"
Does it fucking matter?
Besides being an idiot, he's an awful musician.
Why would anyone give half a shit as to what he thinks?
Adam|9.4.05 @ 12:40PM|#
Chuck Schumer's got to be having a hissy fit right about now. That makes me laugh.
|9.4.05 @ 12:40PM|#
"Do they administer literacy tests at the Pearly Gates?"
Yes, but only to Democrats.
|9.4.05 @ 12:50PM|#
"Why would anyone give half a shit as to what he thinks?"
Andy,
It was a joke; but aside from yesterdays HR thread on him, here's
an excerpt from today's Los Angeles Times:
"AS we enter the celebrity telethon phase of the Katrina tragedy,
NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief" stands as a blueprint for
its own kind of institutional failure.
By censoring Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West's remarks critical of
President Bush during its West Coast feed of the program Friday
night, the network violated the most moving and essential moment in
an otherwise sterile, self-serving corporate broadcast."
.... most moving and essential ..... LOL
|9.4.05 @ 12:54PM|#
"Will he be buried in the black robe with the gold
stripes?"
Hopefully not. They should just stick a bone up his ass and let the
dogs drag him off.
|9.4.05 @ 6:17PM|#
I kind of doubt that Thomas would really want to go through another Senate confirmation hearing even if the President were inclined to nominate him. My guess is that Roberts or Scalia will move be elevated to the Chief Justice and the next nominee will be Emilio Garza. Very conservative, but Mexican and a retired Marine. He'd be hard as hell to beat politically and nothing would please Karl Rove more than to see a bunch of black and feminist groups throwing poo on the country's first Mexican Supreme Court nominee.
|9.4.05 @ 6:22PM|#
"By censoring Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West's remarks
critical of President Bush"
Yes, they were just ordinary criticism. Nothing inappropriate or
hyperbolic about them...
I'm no Bushie, but Jesus. They're trying to raise money for the
victims and Kanye "I can't make a song without sampling someone
else's shit" West comes along and calls the president a racist,
heartless bastard. Way to raise money for a good cause...
|9.4.05 @ 6:29PM|#
"He'd be hard as hell to beat politically and nothing would
please Karl Rove more than to see a bunch of black and feminist
groups throwing poo on the country's first Mexican Supreme Court
nominee."
Fuck identity politics. All it does (they do?) is to separate
people and lead to a form of primitive tribalism.
Bush: Nominate the best man/woman/dolphin for the job without
regard to their "race," "ethnicity," "religion," "sexual
orientation" or whatever other bullshit people use to separate
themselves.
Uppity "minority groups:" Shut the fuck up.
|9.4.05 @ 6:40PM|#
Mark my words: Emilo Garza will get the nomination, and will go
straight to Chief Justice.
You heard it here first.
|9.4.05 @ 8:56PM|#
"He'd be hard as hell to beat politically and nothing would
please Karl Rove more than to see a bunch of black and feminist
groups throwing poo on the country's first Mexican Supreme Court
nominee."
Uh, yeah, that must be why all of the other race cards the
Republicans have tried to play in judicial confirmations fights
have worked so well. From Clarence Thomas being saved by the skin
of his teeth by the "she's a lying slut" defense, to accusing
Senators with Irish surnames of hating Catholics. Face it,
righties, you can't play a decent race card if your life depended
on it. The only way a group of rich white men can convincing play
the race card is if they can emote genuine concern about the
mistreatment of racial minorities - not exactly the party of Lott's
strong point. Yammering "sharecroppers daughter" without ever
actually having had a conversation with a poor black person doesn't
cut it.
"I kind of doubt that Thomas would really want to go through
another Senate confirmation hearing even if the President were
inclined to nominate him." Yes, now that the author of the "she's a
lying slut" defense had admitted that he made it all up, Thomas
would be left with his reputation in tatters. He's not going
anywhere.
|9.4.05 @ 10:12PM|#
joe,
I was merely a lad during the Thomas confirmation, but IIRC it was
his "white men ganging up on an uppity nigger" line of argument
that brought his grilling at the hands of Joe Biden & Co. to a
screeching halt.
|9.5.05 @ 4:07PM|#
Yammering "sharecroppers daughter" without ever actually
having had a conversation with a poor black person doesn't cut
it.
But then, I wonder how many "compassionate white liberals" have
actually had a conversation with a poor black person?
Most white liberals don't have a clue what it's like to even work
for a living at all.
|9.6.05 @ 1:10AM|#
Joe,
"Uh, yeah, that must be why all of the other race cards the
Republicans have tried to play in judicial confirmations fights
have worked so well."
In a judicial confirmation, "works" = "confirmed."
"The Committee sent the nomination to the full Senate without a
recommendation either way. Thomas was confirmed by the Senate with
a 52-48 vote on October 15, 1991, making it the closest
confirmation vote for a Justice in the 1900s. The vote was not
strictly by party line; he received "yea" votes from 41 Republicans
and 11 Democrats, and "nay" votes from 46 Democrats and 2
Republicans"
It was your party's Senate alfter all ....
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245