The Next Chief Justice

President Bush’s reallocation of the nomination of Judge John Roberts to be chief justice instead of associate justice is, to say the least, a solid move. With the late chief justice’s health declining over the past year and the pending retirement of Justice O’Connor the writing on the wall has been up the entire summer; the president would have two nominations to make. If the president is to nominate a strong, credentialed constitutionalist, such as Judge J. Michael Luttig, along with Judge Roberts than Judge Roberts is the logical choice to become the 17th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. His low-key, humble demeanor, leadership skills, legal brilliance, and personal gravity are traits tailor made for the center seat on the Supreme Court, and are all traits held by Judge Robert’s former boss and, almost assuredly, his predecessor.

It has been a rough year for the president, and adding his signature to the pork-laden energy and transportation bills have not been the highlights of his presidency. However as brilliant as Judge Robert’s legal mind and intellect is so to is the president’s selection of Judge Roberts to be chief justice. Assuming the president nominates another constitutionalist to fill Justice O’Connor’s seat, something he can be trusted to do, the Roberts Court should introduce a new, golden age of constitutional jurisprudence. A development constitutionalists such as myself have been waiting for a long time.

ADDED NOTE (9/5/05 12:23 P.M.): The chatter from some of the enlightened punditry in Washington that the president should now nominate a "hurricane pick" to fill the other vacancy on the Court highlights just how disconnected from reality so many in Washington and the establishment really are. Do these pundits honestly think that the thousands of refugees and survivors in the gulf states, having lost homes, property, and even friends and family are going to, in the midst of all this, care one bit right now about a Supreme Court nomination, or even pay a second thought to it? They have more pressing issues confronting them and to think that a Supreme Court nominee has any relevance to any of those issues is an act in the theater of the absurd.