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Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Announces Retirement

Huge news today. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has announced her retirement. Here is her letter:

Dear President Bush:

"This is to inform you of my decision to retire from my position as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, effective upon the nomination and confirmation of my successor.

"It has been a great privilege, indeed, to have served as a member of the Court for 24 terms.

"I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the Court and its role under our constitutional structure."

Sincerely,

Sandra Day O'Connor

Bush will now have his opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court Justice. He is expected to move quickly. Bush will make a statement later this morning.

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    Re: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Announces Retireme (none / 0) (#1)
    by Kitt on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:45 PM EST
    And the fight is on...

    God help us all. "Advice and consent" means nothing to Bush. This one's for the bible thumpers. Let's hope the Dems show some spine.

    Re: Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Announces Retireme (none / 0) (#3)
    by Paralegal on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:00:45 PM EST
    I guess Justice Thomas was out of the loop. So much for the "imagined resignations".

    Goodbye Roe v. Wade.

    This is bad. In his remarks. lasting only a couple of minutes, Bush has already thrown down the gauntlet. He says he intends to have a new justice in place for the new term in the fall. He said he expects a speedy hearing and vote. I think this is why we haven't heard from Rhenquist about retirement yet. I believe the order of retirements is being managed to give the administration leverage in the Senate. First comes the O'Connor replacement. My prediction is that the Bush administration will send up a controversial--but not too controversial pick. They'll try to bait the Senate Dems into a filibuster and either force them to back down or play the nuclear option. Then comes the Rhenquist replacement. That's when they'll give us Scalia 2.0.

    I think Quaker has made a fairly compelling scenario for the upcoming fight. I just hope some Democrat in the Beltway has as much sense.