 Here's the Denver Post coverage of Justice O'Connor's announced retirement [July 2, 2005, "Supreme battle looming"]. They write, "The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who so often cast a key swing vote on abortion and other contentious matters, virtually ensures that the nation will witness a spirited confirmation fight once President Bush names her successor.
"Legal and political experts say that Bush could still temper any confrontation, and defuse a potential Democratic filibuster, by choosing someone in O'Connor's ideological likeness - particularly a woman - or a Latino justice like Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to fill the court's first vacancy in 11 years..."
"O'Connor's status as the first female justice in Supreme Court history will no doubt press the White House to add female jurists to the list, and one name that surfaced quickly was that of Judge Edith Hollan Jones of the 5th Circuit Court, who was considered by the first President Bush for the vacancy that went to Justice David Souter."
Coyote gulch recommends an Irish Westerner.
According to the Denver Post O'Connor herself agrees, sort of [July 2, 2005, "Justice: Court needs expert on West's water law"]. From the article, "Justice Sandra Day O'Connor once suggested a qualification for her replacement that had nothing to do with gender or political philosophy: expertise in Western water law.
"'We have to find someone to put on the court who understands Western water, especially after I leave,' O'Connor said, according to U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.
"Allard said he had bumped into O'Connor at President Bush's inauguration in 2000. In their conversation, he said, she defined herself not as a leading woman jurist or a swing vote, but as a Westerner."
Meanwhile, the Rocky Mountain News editorial staff is happy to see Justice O'Connor retire [July 2, 2005, "O'Connor's exit good for court"]. From the opinion piece, "Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement Friday, setting the stage for what is likely to be high political drama over the high court's future. But we won't be shedding any tears at her departure.
"When President Reagan nominated O'Connor in 1981, he described her as 'truly a person for all seasons, possessing qualities of temperament, fairness, intellectual capacity and devotion to public good.' After 24 terms on the bench, those accolades still hold true.
"But the current court's recent decisions have all too often depended on O'Connor's and Justice Anthony Kennedy's swing votes. Both lean left on such controversial issues as church-state relations, racial preferences and gay marriage. The result has been a court that has failed to enunciate clear and principled positions. So the vacancy allows President Bush to fulfill a promise he made to voters last year to help craft a more intellectually coherent court."
Coyote Gulch looks forward to the RockyWatch analysis of the editorial. 
Mike Littwin weighs in [July 2, 2005, "Littwin: O'Connor gone is a Supreme shake-up"]. He writes, "This is the moment you've either been anticipating or dreading - depending on your worldview. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has announced her retirement and, suddenly, everything looks different. Once, in simpler times, law professor Jeffrey Rosen described O'Connor as the 'national gyroscope.' But now that she is leaving the court, it's time for a change in technology. We're moving to the seismograph."
The Denver Post editorial staff sees things differently from their counerparts at the Rocky [July 2, 2005, "Justice O'Connor broke glass ceiling"]. They write, "In a Supreme Court whose intense polarization is increasingly mirrored by Congress and the nation itself, Sandra Day O'Connor often stood apart, a centrist exercising common sense and a knack for the equitable resolution. President George Bush would do well to keep her legacy in mind when he nominates her replacement."
Colorado Luis is not upset by O'Connor's retirement either. He writes, "O'Connor should go down in history as the deciding vote, and possibly the author, of Bush v. Gore, which marks the low point of the history of the Supreme Court and one of the worst moments in American history. To me, this far outweighs the symbolic value of her being the first woman on the Court and puts O'Connor down as one of history's bad actors."
The Moderate Voice: "RedState has a superb piece on how President George Bush should proceed on filling the Supreme Court slot by Jay Cost, a graduate student at the University of Chicago who is working toward his Ph.D in political science."
James Dobson: "Today marks a watershed moment in American history: the resignation of a swing-vote justice on the Supreme Court and the opportunity to change the Court's direction. The rulings by the Court this June, particularly the schizophrenic decisions on the 10 Commandments cases, have once again demonstrated the desperate need for justices who will interpret the Constitution as it was written, not as the latest fads of legal theorists dictate.
"President Bush must nominate someone whose judicial philosophy is crystal clear. And no one has been clearer about this than the President himself, who said during his campaign that he would appoint justices in the mold of Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia. We have full confidence that he will carry out that pledge."
Category: 2004 Presidential Transition
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