Commanders can continue what they've been doing before, but what the Air Force is saying to them is, You need to be fair, and you need to appear fair, |
I think she'll feel like this is a bonus. She's always loved the job. The saddest thing for her was going to be not being at opening day. |
In those two arenas there's a huge difference. His instincts take him in different directions than her instincts take her. |
It is a huge loss in the sense that when the government comes in and makes its arguments, it's easy to discount them when you don't understand how the system works. She was always looking to the whole meaning of the statute and the pragmatic effect of the statute. |
Roberts is going to be hard to oppose, on a principled basis, |
Roberts is going to be hard to oppose, on a principled basis. The next nominee is going to make someone unhappy. |
She was the moral center of the court. On contentious issues she was the swing vote, but she determined every case would be decided on the basis of that case — she was never interested in the abstract. |
The people who are burdened are the lawyers. Who are you talking to? Normally you would pitch your whole argument to her. You know the court is going to change. |
The politics are going to get pretty hot once the new nominee comes in, because it's the O'Connor spot. Why mess with the Roberts' nomination? |
The poll numbers are bad. [Hurricane] Katrina is added to other failures. The moderate choices look better politically, |
The poll numbers are bad. Katrina is added to other failures. The moderate choices look better politically, |
The statute treats the Boy Scouts and the 4H Club and the church identically. Any organization that was overseeing children is subject to the law, |
This replacement is extremely important because it's my view that John Roberts was a one-for-one replacement for the chief. Justice O'Connor held the middle in the court, and on many social issues, like separation of church and state, she was the crucial vote there. |
We won't know his actual views until his first opinions at the court appear, |
What I liked about them is they went so far out of their way to say the government should not be endorsing religion, because that's not always been true in the military. |