Chief Justice Roberts?

President Bush has nominated John Roberts to be the next chief justice of the United States. Essentially, then, Roberts will, if confirmed, be Rehnquist's replacement on the Supreme Court, a conservative for a conservative. As I've mentioned before, I'm not necessarily opposed to his confirmation, and, indeed, he may very well turn out to be a fine chief justice -- and I say this as someone who would prefer a more liberal Court.

Prediction: He'll be confirmed, and quite easily, though Democrats will put up a solid fight -- partly out of conviction, partly for show. So get ready for The Roberts Court.

But let the games begin anew:

For whom will Bush nominate to be O'Connor's replacement, now that we're back where we were a couple of months ago, when names like Gonzales, Luttig, Clement, Garza, Wilkinson, McConnell, and Jones wormed their way into our daily discourse and had us political junkies drooling in anticipation. And the same questions still apply: Will Bush pick a woman or a visible minority? Will he pander to his base and pick a right-wing ideologue? Will he go with a federal judge with a lengthy judicial record or with, say, a politician or government official?

Stay tuned. It's about to get interesting again.

See my earlier posts (in chronological order):

• And the next chief justice is...
• Is Gonzales Spanish for Souter?
• Gonzales: Just too damn liberal?
• In search of civility
• A question of loyalty: Bush and Gonzales
• How 'bout some o' that old-time conservatism?
• The fighting liberals
• A different take on Luttig
• Uniters, not dividers
• What to label Gonzales?
• The Laura factor
• So who's it gonna be?
• A modest judge: Roberts and gay rights
• Roberts, Roe, and the American judiciary

Needless to say, I'll have more on this in the days and weeks to come.