You Know Rhenquist & Thomas & Ginsberg & Souter
Ginsberg, Thomas, O’Connnor, Breyer, Scalia, Kennedy, Rhenquist, Stevens, and Souter.

I just named all nine Supreme Court Justices from memory. Of course with the web being the ultimate reference librarian, I could have done a quick search to get the last two (I have a tendency to forget Stevens and Breyer). And there’s no way to prove that I didn’t sneak off to Google.com just now. You’ll have to trust me on this one.

I would bet that if you stopped the Average Joe on the street and asked him to name all nine members of the Supreme Court, he couldn’t come up with more than two or three. And he’d tell you he thinks there a group of stuffy old men (even though two of them are women now) who pass judgment on the rest of us. If he’s a conservative, he’ll probably have something to say about activist judges legislating from the bench.

I have the utmost respect for the Supreme Court, as opposed to the utter contempt I feel for the other two branches–the Legislative Branch (Congress) and the Executive Branch (Bush and Company). The Supreme Court Justices are the arbiters of the Constitution. They are the ultimate Check and Balance in our system of checks and balances. They are the last word and we all have to live with their decision.

Unless of course someone can come up with a better case on the issue. Otherwise the “separate but equal” decision of Plessy V. Feguson would still be in force.

Sandra Day O’Connor just announced her resignation last Friday, giving Team Bush the chance to select her replacement. This is something the Religious Right has been waiting for since Bush took office in January, 2001– the chance to get a real conservative judge on the Supreme Court.

Right now, Bush’s favorite is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Actually, I don’t have a problem with that. I realize Gonzales was the member of the Bush administration who wrote the memos that torture was pretty much all right for prisoners of war. But if Gonzales becomes a Supreme Court Justice, I’m sure he won’t be performing any torture in the Supreme Court or its offices. Or at least not very much.

James Dobson’s ultra-conservative “Focus on The Family” group has come out soundly against Gonzales, so that’s good enough for me.

Supreme Court Justices have a tendency to “evolve,” to go in as a conservative and become more liberal in their rulings as the years progress. Although according to Newsweek, Clarence Thomas insists that he “ain’t evolving,” and his judgments are just as conservative as ever.

I hope Bush decides to be a uniter instead of a divider and go for a judge that reflects the views of the majority of Americans, not just the arch-conservatives with the narrow minds and deep pockets. Someone in the center.

Like Sandra Day O’Connor.