WHAAAAAAAAAAT!! I suddenly have a feeling that this was who the President had in mind all along...for just this contingency. And of course it sends the Donks scrambling!
I do hope that Justices Scalia and Thomas aren’t miffed by this. I read somewhere on the web that some rumor had it Scalia would resign if he were not elevated to Chief Justice. I don’t believe he would, neither Scalia nor Thomas strike me as being that petty. Justice O’Connor is already on record as stating she will remain on the Court until her replacement is chosen and confirmed.
Nevertheless, this is an even BOLDER MOVE by the President just for its sheer implications. I have no doubt that Roberts will be confirmed, but he would sit in that center chair for a minimum of 20 YEARS. Think of the direction he would take the court over that period; for starters, Roe v. Wade could finally be overturned during his tenure, which, may I remind my liberal friends, would NOT make abortions illegal, but would turn the issue of deciding the legalities of such BACK TO THE STATES where it should have been all along! Of course, the same thing was said when Reagan’s choices (O’Connor, Scalia, and Kennedy) took their seats.
So we’ll see.