Gonzales To Replace O'Conner On High Court?

Gonzales & Bush

Yesterday, Hugh Hewitt posted this link: Bill Kristol writes that he hears it will be O'Connor stepping down next week, not the Chief, and that the Attorney General will be her replacement.

Alberto Gonzales is not the most conservative of possible nominees, but he is at least as conservative as O'Conner, who he would be replacing. At only 49 years of age, he would have at least a 15-20 year term of service.

In his favor is the fact that the Senate, without filibuster (although with great delay) confirmed him as Attorney General just this past February. It would be very difficult for the Democrats to justify his appointment to the Supreme Court as an extraordinary circumstance under this circumstance!

As Kristol suggests in his article, when the time comes for Reinquist to retire, the would be the time for Bush to nominate a more conservative judge to the court. That would undoubtedly bring the reality of a full-blown filibuster into the Senate once again.

Then again, as he admits himself, Kristol could be wrong about the entire thing!