The John Roberts Nomination and 2008

Next month, the Senate will begin hearings for the nomination of John Roberts to the post of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. His manner and background have much to recommend him and he will undoubtedly appoint himself well and will most likely be confirmed. Even if he were to run into trouble, George Bush does not often back peddle on matters such as this.

Why would he get into trouble? It seems that People for the American Way has been reading the documents released from the Reagan Administration. Their review has shown that he was in the vangaurd of its largely unsuccessful attempts to dismantle civil rights precident. Tomorrow they are holding a press conference where they will most likely oppose the nomination. They seem to be of the opinion that he is more of a Scalia than an O'Connor.

Will this stop the nomination. Most likely not. The Democratic faithful are about to get hit with the lesson that the Republican faithful have learned well, that it matters who wins the presidency. While some know this deeply, most don't seem to. They may or may not get a rude awakening. If Roberts turns out to be a Scalia more than a few precidents will be overturned in the near future. The reason People for the American Way and a vast array of left leaning (meaning Democratic Party) groups are about to raise a big stink is for the "I told you so" factor. Like everything else, this nomination will become an election issue. The more Roberts is like Scalia, the more the Democrats will use this in 2008 to rally the troops. Oddly enough, if Roberts is more true to form and is more like an O'Connor, the Republicans will use this as an election issue on how the judiciary is out of control. Of course if Roberts shows wisdom from the bench and pleases both sides he may end up as not an election issue but as Chief Justice when Renquist dies or retires. Only time will tell.