The Coming Disappointment, cont'd

I wrote yesterday that the next Supreme Court justice would be a disappointment, for two reasons: President Bush is more Republican than conservative, and any nominee is a pig in a poke.

Illustrating well the latter is an article in the New York Times today by Todd Purdum, "Presidents, Picking Justices, Can Have Backfires." He covers a string of presidents reflecting on their nominees. I love these quotes:

"The biggest damn fool mistake I ever made."

-- Dwight Eisenhower on Chief Justice Earl Warren

"It isn't so much that he's a bad man. It's just that he's such a dumb son of a bitch."

-- Harry Truman on Justice Tom Clark

And so on. Amusement factor aside, this is a hell of a way to run a railroad (see the cause of Theodore Roosevelt's exasperation with Oliver Wendell Holmes).

Americans last year spent more than $1 billion deciding who'd govern them over the next two, four and six years; who'd make decisions on more than $2 trillion in government expenses; who'd take us to war or pull us out. A record 120 million of us voted. Serious stuff.

And yet for all that, our fate is largely determined by nine people over whom we have zero control, and who'll be in office for 30 or 40 years. It's one of the smallest institutions in all of government, with the budget of a large school board. It's staffed by justices who are ciphers at appointment, giving no indication to those who nominate and consent whether they'll rule as Cossacks or Bolsheviks. Neither past nor party provides a clue.

The situation's absurd. It amazes me that to point this out gets you the same looks as putting on an E.T. suit.
*****ConfirmThem notes a Rovian slip ... The GOPbloggers are ruling out Gonzales. Like it matters! .... James Joyner senses the national GOP trying to temper the disapppointment ... At Alarming News, they're hoping against hope ...