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Originally Posted by Blackmane
If he was so intent about getting his views into the Supreme Court, why didn't he do it sooner then? I mean, he could have easily started replacing the older members of the Supreme Court, or asked the more conservative judges to step down in order to replace him with judges of his choosing.
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Now that really is ridiculous. Do you think the President of the United States can really just ask a member of the Supreme Court to step down? For one thing, he has no authority to do that. The Supreme Court is supposed to be a separate organ of the government entirely, providing a check and balance against the Congress and the Executive.
Secondly, if there was one whiff of a Supreme Court judge stepping down at the President's request, you'd have protests up the wazoo, and they know it. If Bush asked Rehquist to step down (for example), Rehquist would most likely refuse precisely because he would want to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Now I know you're suggesting that Bush could have kind of slipped this in with the nation's focus on the war on terror and all, but the fact is he really couldn't. Especially considering that many people believe that Bush is only in office because the Supreme Court selected him. And you'd better believe that his challenger would have jumped on it as a sign that Bush is a stubborn and arrogant fascist with designs on dictatorship.