Delay Confirmation Hearings?

It appears there will be a minimum of a one week delay in the confirmation hearings of John Roberts for the Supreme Court.

This initial delay is to allow for the funeral of William Rehnquest, the late Chief Justice.

However, Senate Democrats, Chris Dodd, and Ted Kennedy specifically are calling for a delay because of Hurricane Katrina.

Now, I'm not exactly sure what Ted and Chris are doing for the relief effort, but I'm sure it could spare the nine senators on the Judiciary Committee to get the hearings underway.

What they are really doing is stalling to keep the court at 8 members; not 7; O'Connor said she'd sit until her successor was confirmed. This means that the court has lost a social conservative in Rehnquest, and by keeping O'Connor around, they are at best going to be stalled 4-4 on any vote in that arena until Roberts in confirmed.

After a week the Democratic members will suggest that the hearings be delayed until Bush names the new Chief Justice, and then they'll want to delay again if it's Roberts, needing "more information". They'll claim the 50,000 pages they already have isn't enough.

We now get to watch the democrats Four Corners Offense when it comes to Supreme Court nominees.