Chief Justice Roberts

Naming John Roberts as nominee for Chief Justice was a good move by President Bush. Bush loses no time, takes page one of the newspaper, and gets his first pick in the court's top job for perhaps 30 years. And all this while Bush is under fire for Katrina mismanagement.

All evidence to the contrary, somebody up there must like the president, and you have to wonder whether it is Rehnquist. On the other hand, I still am not sure why the recently departed Chief did not retire at the end of the term. I guess he was one of those folks who practice law for the sheer joy of it, and he never found a hobby that could compete.

Roberts was a clerk for Rehnquist, and that has me wondering whether I might be in line to run the Oregon Court of Appeals, if my favorite Chief Judge should kick the bucket. Which reminds me: I should call and check on Dave Brewer's health, because that job looks like a whale of a lot of work, and I would much prefer that he be doing it.