O'connor and the 2005 Term

[Stephen L. Wasby]

Earl's parting shot ("singular ineptitude") causes me to call to your 
attention (or remind you)
of John Massaro's book, Supremely Political (SUNY Press), which introduces 
the factor
of "presidential mismanagement" as an element in confirmation (vel non) of 
justices.  It doesn't
include the last several nominations, but has something valuable to say.
    Steve Wasby

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Earl Maltz" <emaltz at camden.rutgers.edu>
To: "Sanford Levinson" <SLevinson at law.utexas.edu>
Cc: <conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 27, 2005 1:09 PM
Subject: Re: O'connor and the 2005 Term


> Waiting for March 1 creates a variety of political problems.  One of the 
> problems is that Bush has created a situation in which he may very need at 
> least two more nominations to fill the seat.  The first would satisfy his 
> conservative base, but then by killed by a long filibuster by the 
> Democrats.  The second might then be an Edith Clement type,  who (like 
> Anthony Kennedy) would be accepted by both sides out of pure exhaustion. 
> The problem is that, assuming a long filibuster of the first nomination, 
> if he began on March 1, Bush might not have time for a second nomination 
> prior to the November elections, in which the Democrats might well retake 
> the Senate.
>
> This administration clearly wins the Warren G. Harding-Calvin Coolidge 
> award for singular ineptitude.
>
> At 11:41 AM 10/27/2005 -0500, Sandy Levinson wrote:
>>Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
>>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C5DB15.4E646939"
>>
>>I believe that both were succeeding dead justices, Black and Harlan (or, 
>>if still living, too debilitated to serve).  And, though I'm ready to and 
>>corrected, I don't think that H or B had participated in any cases.  What 
>>will happen, e.g., if SDO provides the 5th vote in the Oregon case.  Will 
>>the SC majority try to rush it out?  Will a dissenter develop a slow pen 
>>or broken computer.  Will casesBe dismissed as improvidently granted 
>>because the newcomer would not have provided SDO's 4th vote?
>>
>>I stand by my previous posting.  It's time for a cooling off period.
>>
>>Sandy
>>- Sanford Levinson
>>(Sent from a Blackberry)
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> _______________________________________________
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