Bush Makes a Good Choice

Instapundit has the roundup on the Roberts nomination. The pundits will weigh in, so let me throw in my two cents.

Bush snagged a slam-dunk confirmation, despite the usual moaning from liberal groups. Short of Roberts spitting in the face of Chuck Schumer, he will be a shoo-in, barring any unforseen background problems, which are unlikely since the guy just got put on the appellate bench two years ago. And if he wants to spit in Schumer's face... well, that would get some of the more luke-warm conservatives over to his side.

I also think Rehnquist will now hang on for at least one more year, because I think Roberts is the next Chief Justice. Roberts is a former Rehnquist clerk, and I've heard news reports that Rehnquist was lobbying behind the scenes for Roberts. If Rehnquist makes it through another year or two, Roberts could be bumped up, without being the lightning rod that Scalia or Thomas would be -- and Roberts is younger to boot.

I like Roberts for obvious reasons -- he's young, he's no Souter, he's Federalist Society, he's smart as they come and he's a fellow Harvard law grad. Anyone who comes out of HLS and is still a conservative can handle the supposedly moderating influence at the High Court.

No, he's not Scalia. Fred Barnes is right when he says that Roberts is a safe pick, but that doesn't make him the wrong pick. I also think it's a courageous choice, as Bill Kristol noted, because Bush didn't simply yield to conventional wisdom and place a woman on the high court to replace O'Connor. I'm not particularly concerned by the Ann Coulter press release on this one; just because Roberts has a stealthier profile does not mean he's going to be another Souter (as usual, though, Coulter gets the line of the day: "The only way a supreme court nominee could win the approval of NARAL and Planned Parenthood would be to actually perform an abortion during his confirmation hearing, live, on camera, and preferably a partial birth one." Bush should have nominated her for the spectacle of the hearings alone).

Would I have preferred someone else? Sure, on the list of realistic nominees, Luttig would have been my fist choice, and Jones might have been second. But Roberts finishes no lower than #3 on my list of top choices for appointment, and potentially ahead of Jones. In the end, we didn't get another Scalia. We did get another Rehnquist. That's pretty good for replacing O'Connor.