Exclusive: Rehnquist mulling retirement

[joeunderdog]

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who has been on the Supreme Court for 32 years — and its leader since 1986 — is contemplating retirement, he reveals in an exclusive interview with NBC News national correspondent Jamie Gangel aired on the "Today" show.


Rehnquist, who has presided over many of the controversial cases of our time, including the disputed Bush-Gore election battle, has written a new book about another presidential election that ended up in front of the Supreme Court in 1876 called "Centennial Crisis."

In the interview, he discussed the book, his thoughts on retirement and some of the attention-grabbing controversies with which he has been associated.

In public, Chief Justice Rehnquist is one of the most conservative members of the court, with a reputation for being stern.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4495268/

Can I get the door for you?

[Exultant Democracy]

1. No no no, that Asshat had better wait!

edit: for clarity

[Jacobin]

2. A new Coup Leader could not possibly be confirmed this year

Ain't no fucking way in the world.

[TolstoyAndy]

4. True

There's no requirement for 9 "justices" - if he retires before *idiot steals 2004, the seat will go unfilled.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Can you spell F-I-L-L-I-B-U-S-T-E-R S-U-P-R-EM-E? And * try to fill

this vacancy while Congress is in recess, a la Pryor, etc.

This is an election year and imagine * putting Tony Scalia (Happy Birthday you Federalist, you) on the throne of Chief Justice and nominating someone like Pryor to fill the Associate Justice vacancy --and expecting no blowback? Whooaa!

If Rehnquist were going to do the most amount of damage, he would have to wait until he and the 4 other Justices can fix the imperfect election (again).

[cboy4]

5. Boy, I guess it's exceptionally

clear how much I can't stand that man,
when he may actually be retiring and the devil
in me still hopes he gets hit by
a bus.....bonus points if it's the Kerry campaign bus!
:evilgrin:

[SnowGoose]

6. a way to convince right-wingers to go out to the polls

With so many GOP voters disenchanted with Bush, you've got to give them *some* reason to get out there and vote... or else those bad liberals will have a chance to move the court back to the center.

As always, I could be full of it.

[mobuto]

7. 1968 all-over-again

When Earl Warren retired in 1968, Senate Republicans blocked succesive LBJ replacements for months until Nixon took office. Thanks to that we got Warren Burger.

[RichV]

9. Not entirely accurate, but close

The GOPers filibusted Abe Fortas' promotion from Associate Justice to Chief Justice. Warren's resignation was contingent on Fortas' approval to the CJ seat. The other Dem casualty, Homer Thornberry, was nominated for Fortas' seat contingent on his confirmation. Which never happened. Fortas had to resign not long after once the Nixon smear machine got ahold of some perceived ethical violations Fortas had committed and he resigned from SCOTUS altogether. However, that process ultimately did lead to Burger taking Warren's seat and Harry Blackmun joining the Court after the Dems effectively squashed the nominations of Clement Haynsworth and Harold Carswell (right-wing nuts Nixon wanted on the Court). So we lost 2 Dem justices in one fell swoop while they got 2 GOPers they shouldn't have. Bah.

[mobuto]

13. Absolutely

I simplified the story somewhat. Fortas was the worst choice LBJ could have made, he literally begged LBJ not to appoint him to the Court. He was a great man, but really the wrong man for the job. The ultimate irony of course is that the other GOP-er, the so-called Minnesota Twin that Nixon appointed to serve alongside Burger, turned out to be one of the most liberal justices in the Court's history.

[VolcanoJen]

8. May I help you hold that door, joeunderdog?

Please, please, please retire, and quickly, Justice Rehnquist.

A Supreme Court battle in the midst of a Presidential Election would be the sweetest thing...

[jeanmarc]

10. Great! Another issue in our favor!

Greenspan, now Rehnquist are providing great and clear issues for the voter to decide on. Do not fall for the gay marriage shell game. We have considerable issues to discuss!

[Festivito]

11. Beats recusing himself, or if not, gives a quick exit.

I bet if he doesn't recuse himself for Cheney's GAO energy case, he'll make a swift exit from the court in order to quell the outcry.

I say, we should yell, loud, hard, and long if he does not recuse himself. And, we should not allow Bush to appoint anyone to SCOTUS. Not under any circumstance.

[rooboy]

12. Yay!!! Pat Robertson's prayers have been answered!! LOL n/t

[chimpy the poopthrower]

14. Do we even have enough to filibuster?

Besides, they won't nominate an extreme right-winger. They don't need another Scalia. All they need is a centrist who leans ever so slightly right. Just enough to keep the balance in their favor. Make him so moderate that the Dems can't justify not letting him through. Then they will have accomplished their goal of not letting a liberal on the court. If they try to put an extremist on the court, they know that it won't go through in time, and Kerry will get to decide.

[bemildred]

15. Fat Tony is the one that needs to be removed. nt

[Crachet2004]

16. He is afraid of another election debacle I'll bet.

He already knows that History will JUDGE HIM harshly for stepping into the Florida election, where the Supreme Court had NO business.

Or he could be afraid of a massive Democrat landslide, which would result in our IMPEACHING HIS SORRY ASS!!!

Go ahead and run you chickenshit. You can't outrun how you will be known in History, for all future time! You will be named in the same very small paragraph as Ralph Nader and Jeb Bush-enablers of the Stolen Election of 2000!

Rotten Bastard.

[RememberWellstone]

17. One more reason to vote for Kerry.

Probably the most important one.

[dbt]

18. Retire in HELL, Mr. Chief "Justice!"

Wear those stripes on your scaly reptile skin for eternity, you sorry bastard! You knew that handing the presidency to bu$h was wrong, but you did it anyway, DIDN'T YOU?

You sold your country OUT. You made the most obscene mockery of your oath. You are obviously for sale.

Better hope you can retire before REAL Justice (the legal variety)catches up to you!

:grr:
dbt