O’Connor, First Woman Supreme Court Justice, Resigns After 24 Years (New York Times ) I hope the liberals have been saving up their stamina for the first of Bush’s inevitable struggles to stack the Court with rabid rightwingers for the next few decades. It seems to me to be better if Rehnquist does not announce his departure just now so that the two confirmation battles are not conjoined. Otherwise, the dysadministration would undoubtedly do something like sneak in a more moderate reactionary under cover of the furor over a clearly more outrageous ‘stalking horse’ nominee on whom they are willing to cave.