I guess I'm not surprised…

…that Chief Justice Rehnquist seems determined to stay put. Based on nothing more than a hunch, really, that I've drawn based on a variety of Rehnquist's statements on the role of the courts, court security, etc., I think he's pretty uneasy about the prospects of George W. Bush picking his replacement.

Whatever disagreements I may have with Rehnquist, I will grant him one thing. He has a high regard for the institution to which he has devoted so much of his life. Even his self-designed robes, despite their apparent comic-opera origins, were an effort on his part to enhance the stature of the Court as much as his own position on it, I think. His principled defense of the Court's Constitutional role is an extension of what I see as a corresponding high regard for

Bushco™, on the other hand, has a clear disdain for the Supreme Court, the courts in general and the Constitution generally. They have a near total disregard for the courts as anything but another tool for the extension of political power, while in the Constitution, and in Rehnquist's view, the courts are anything but that.

In another context I recently mentioned the late Justice William O. Douglas. While his career was admirable in many respects, many remember him best for his apparently death-defying tenure, widely interpreted as an act of defiance against the idea of Richard Nixon naming his replacement. I don't know that Bill Rhenquist is committed to outlast the Bush administration, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised to learn that it's true.

I wouldn't be too surprised if he pulled it off, either. As Goldy points out…

...the U.S. Supreme Court has a well-deserved reputation as one of medical science’s most effective life-support systems.

Indeed, it do.