CURRENTLY SHOWING AT A THEATER NEAR YOU

Because everything else has faded in comparison with the Katrina disaster and Roberts’s confirmation hearings, I am struggling here. It seems the entire country is on hold. I am in no way trying to take away from the importance those two events have, but I for one would really like to know what the status is on the morning-after pill and the FDA absurd delay on deciding the issue (as I see it, the need for an FDA decision is more than disputable - it is condemnable).

No one is talking about it anymore. The confirmation hearings of Judge Roberts are all absorbing now, even though I feel they are merely a show. After all, nobody – jurist, academic, government official, you name it - seriously entertains the possibility of Roberts not being confirmed. The man has practically turned into a Supreme Court Justice ever since he was first nominated by El Presidente.

Some argue that given his little nomination “upgrade” from Associate Justice to Chief Justice, the hearings should probe deeper into his character, beliefs and so forth. They claim that Roberts's judiciary track record is not strong/long enough to provide a reliable glimpse into the mind of the man who is poised to preside over the highest court of the nation for what could be several administrations to come.

But I say – spare your energy. Not only it is very likely Roberts will be confirmed as Chief Justice, but he also seems to have been fashioned in the same mold that presented us with the late Chief Justice Rehnquist. There is little room left for the imagination here: Rehnquist was not only Roberts’s mentor, but he was his creator as well.

The real question is rather, what happens next? Who will fill the other empty seat – Justice O’Connor’s seat - at the court? Will El Presidente try appeasing some of us who don’t really sympathize with his choices so far (and please note, I am being nice)? Or will he go all out? And let’s not forget: at 85, Justice Stevens is the oldest member of the court. Who knows - he might also be ready for retirement soon.