Sandra Day O'Connor

[Homer]

The first female Supreme Court Justice will step down after 24 years of service.

[Jeffer]

Well this should make for an interesting nomination process.

I don't engage in partisan discussions in forums.  But everyone was expecting Rehnquist to be the one to step down.  As a solid conservative, replacing him with another was seen as an easier task.

But O'Connor was a moderate conservative (Reagan nominated her), who was somewhat independent in her decisions.  Trying to replace her with a solid conservative will be much harder.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that GWB will nominate Andrew Gonzales (The current AJ) as the next nominee.  He is a conservative juror, who has been known to step out of the box from time to time.  Secondly, GWB is known to be fiercely loyal to those on his team. While there will be a bit of a fight, he is close enough to O'Connor to get passage. 

Like Barb says.. Party manners please.