Just say no to Alberto Gonzales
Bill Kristol speculates that Sandra Day O’Connor - not William Rehnquist - will step down as Sumpreme Court Justice next week. President George W. Bush will probably push Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as her replacement, probably arguing that he would be a little bit more conservative than the awful O’Connor.
He may or may not be that. He certainly won’t be as conservative as I would like a new judge to be. However, my bigger concern is simply this: I don’t think he’s qualified for the job. I just don’t see a reason for why he should be appointed to shape U.S. laws for the rest of his life.
UPDATE: Ramesh Ponnuru rejects a Gonzales nomination on political, ideological, and judicial grounds.
June 23rd, 2005 at 11:05 pm
What the heck are you talking about? Justice O’ Conner has no near future plans of stepping down whatsoever. Chief Justice Rehnquist is and has been in poor health for a while now and the fact is, he will more than likely soon step down. Justice O’ Conner was only appointed to the Supreme Court in the 1980’s by President Reagan about twenty years ago, when Chief Justice Rehnquist was appointed by President Nixon over thirty years ago. The fact is Rehnquist is getting up there in age, and Alberto Gonzales will not become a Justice any time soon. I believe that Gonzales is a perfect choice for Attorney General and may even prove himself to become even better than former Attorney General Ashcroft, which in my belief will not be hard to do. President Bush has once again proved himself to be the only president to appoint a Cabinet that displays every ethnicity, color, and gender.
June 23rd, 2005 at 11:25 pm
Richard,
it’s wonderful that “Bush has once again proved himself to be the only president to appoint a Cabinet that displays every ethnicity, color, and gender”, but we;re talking about the Supreme Court, not the Cabinet. I will be quite pleased if “Gonzales will not become a Justice any time soon.” Trust me on that one. I disagree strongly with you about Gonzales being a better AG than Ashcroft. The latter was an excellent AG and I fail to understand what the former has done to convince you that he is a perfect choice for AG.
Let me just clarify that the post is based on Kristol’s speculation that it will indeed be O’Connor who steps down next week. Like you, I would have thought it far more likely that Rehnquist, who’s done an admirable job, would have been the to retire.
We will soon find out who’s right.
June 24th, 2005 at 12:50 pm
Yes, Chief Justice Rehnquist has done an admirable job, and I do not agree with Kristol’s speculation that it will be Justice O’ Conner who steps down next week as he has stated. Rehnquist is in poor health and is very old, he cannot continue to make the heavy decisions required for that position. It is true that Gonzales may not be as strict as Ahscroft although he has already whole-heartedly agreed to support and demand the continuation of the U.S. Patriot Act, which is crucial for our country in this time of worldwide catastrophe. Gonzales has also hardly been in office so how can you begin to bash his record and say that he will be worse than Ashcroft? Yes, Ashcroft is a brilliant guy, although so is Gonzales, he will prove to be a worthy choice for that position, you just watch in the next three years to come.