The chief justice of the United States Supreme Court Thursday issued a two-word opinion to settle the case of Rehnquist vs. the Chattering Classes et al:
Enough, already.
Rehnquist, who has been battling thyroid cancer, was hospitalized two nights this week with a fever before being released Thursday. He then issued a terse statement: “I want to put to rest the speculation and unfounded rumors of my imminent retirement. I am not about to announce my retirement. I will continue to perform my duties as chief justice as long as my health permits.”
Friday, Rehnquist, looking pale but alert in news photos, returned to work at the court. At least for now, that should cool the speculations of the armchair political consultants who basically have been pressuring the chief justice to retire so President Bush can appease both moderates and hard-line conservatives.
In their scenarios, if Bush had two vacancies, he could appoint an Antonin Scalia-type conservative to replace Rehnquist and a mainstream conservative such as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to supplant retired switch-hitter Sandra Day O’Connor. The theory is that the Senate might approve such a package deal.
Some of those reveries assumed Rehnquist would tailor his retirement to Bush’s political needs. CBS legal analyst and Denver Post contributor Andrew Cohen humorously pierced that reasoning Friday by quipping: “The chief justice doesn’t owe anything to the president. It’s the president who owes his job to the chief justice, remember?”
But for the moment, the president has but a single vacancy to fill, a situation with different political considerations. Bush might risk alienating the political right if he names a moderate or might see his nominee rejected by the Senate if he chooses a hard-liner.
And, the situation gives pundits opportunity to spin new scenarios. The mysterious figure the Washington Post’s David Broder calls “the Great Mentioner” will undoubtedly get busier. Even Democratic Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar is in that game, suggesting Colorado Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis, a Republican, and Democrat Carlos Lucero, a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Conservative Judge Michael McConnell of the 10th Circuit also has been mentioned.
Amid the speculation, one thing seems clear: Rehnquist will decide what he wants to do and when to do it. When it was announced last October that he was receiving chemotherapy, some doctors speculated he had a form of thyroid cancer that generally claims its victims within three to six months. But 10 months later Rehnquist is still alive and on the job.
But, as the chief justice’s statement admitted with the reference to “as my health permits,” he’s not fully the master of his fate.
