Crawford, Texas – Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s second trip to the hospital in less than a month raises new questions about whether his battle with cancer will force him to leave the bench – and who will fill his seat as chief justice if he steps down.
Already, President Bush’s decision to nominate John Roberts to the Supreme Court has been scrutinized for clues into the type of candidate Bush would pick if he got a chance to name a chief justice.
The speculation intensified this past week when Rehnquist, who suffers from thyroid cancer, was treated Thursday for a fever at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., where he spent two nights for observation and tests in July.
If Rehnquist is next to retire, the president not only would nominate a replacement but would have to decide whether to elevate a current justice to the top chair.
“If a vacancy comes at the end of the court’s term next June, then I think Roberts would be a very serious candidate to be chief justice, assuming he’s confirmed,” said Northwestern University law professor Steven Calabresi, a co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society. “If Roberts is confirmed in September and Rehnquist resigns a week later, I don’t think they’d do Roberts.”
Some say that because Bush selected a conservative, white male to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, he will face pressure to name a woman or a Hispanic next time. When O’Connor leaves, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was appointed by President Clinton, will be the sole woman on the high court.
Bush plucked Roberts from an ever-changing slate of about a dozen candidates, including five the president had interviewed in person. Court-watchers are combing that list for hints about whom Bush might pick next. Besides Roberts, Bush interviewed federal appellate judges Edith Clement and J. Harvie Wilkinson. The identity of the other two interviewees remains unclear.
The list of those who sat down for face-to-face talks with Bush, however, was not necessarily the president’s short list.
