Here's A Lame Ass Thought

If President Bush is expected to get three or four new justices to the Supreme Court, replacing a liberal justice or two, why not appoint one of the remaining liberal justices as the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? If the balance should tip 6-3 or 7-2 conservative, then a liberal Chief Justice wouldn't have much power to sway the politics of the Court. The only power would be in the appointement of the justice who writes the majority opinion. Conceivably, one of the remaining liberal justices could vote along with the conservative majority just so that the liberal Chief Justice could then appoint that justice to write the majority opinion and it would be done so as to limit the scope of that opinion. But that couldn't happen all of the time and when it does at least the conservatives would be getting some of what they want. And sometimes it's good to temper the views of one side, whether that side be liberal or conservative.

But why even think about appointing a liberal as the next Chief Justice? As a gesture towards bridging the divide between liberals and conservatives. It would be pretty much an empty gesture and a compromise that conservatives wouldn't be willing to make - why compromise when you can have it all? But as the title of the posts says, it's just a lame ass thought from the very tired mind of a third-tier student who ranks at the bottom half of his class and knows nothing of this politics stuff.