Surveying the ‘Sphere on the Roberts Nomination

The President’s nomination of John Roberts to fill Justice O’Connor’s vacancy on the Supreme Court – the first such change in 11 years – is such an intriguing and momentous development that I thought I’d take a moment to survey what some of the leading bloggers are saying about it. Kind of a snapshot in time.

My own opinion? The President made the best of this selection, and good conservatives can join reasonable centrists and even people on the center-left of the political spectrum to applaud it. But here’s what others are saying (in no particular order) – first, from the Right:

The gents at Powerline are ecstatic:

It’s a great day for conservatives and for America. Thanks to President Bush for nominating the best person for the job–or, certainly, one of the best people, along with McConnell, Luttig and one or two others–rather than taking the easy, politically correct way out.

Hugh raves about his personal friend:

John Roberts: A home run for the president, the SCOTUS, and for the United States.

Fellow former Harvard Law Review editor Carol Liebau is also exuberant.

Robert Alt at NR’s Bench Memos looks ahead:

Any attempt to filibuster him should be dismissed as silliness: when they finally permitted a vote on Roberts for the court of appeals, he was confirmed by unanimous consent. If the Democrats attempt to call him an “extraordinary circumstance” and use the filibuster, it will show their own disengenuity, and will guarantee not only the use of the nuclear option permanently ending the judicial filibusters, but public support for the nuclear option.

Pejman Y., one of the Red State gang, is disappointed in tonight’s announcement (but not how you might think):

My only complaint about the nomination of Judge John Roberts to the United States Supreme Court is that I would have preferred it to be for the position of Chief Justice, especially given the leadership skills which–along with a brilliant intellect–would make him one of the most consequential and great Chief Justices in history.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ideological aisle, People for the American Way is grasping at straws. It looks like they’ve drawn the short one for this confirmation battle.

Besides being stuck on the Karl Rove / Valerie Plame non-issue and questioning the timing of Bush’s announcement, Kos seems a bit confused and uncertain how to react. No serious comments to be found from TalkingPointsMemo, Matthew Yglesias, or Andrew Sullivan (the sometimes Leftie).

Others?

Michelle Malkin has a roundup of some interesting sources on Roberts… it’s worth a stop.

For the real geeks on this sort of thing, Eugene Volokh analyzes the online trading markets’ ability to forecast the President’s nominee.

Finally, in a must-read post, ConfirmThem takes the high road and links to some thoughtful responses to the Roberts nomination from the legal Left.

I could go on and on, but it’s nights like this where it’s okay for an armchair amateur like myself to sit back, be a “linker” rather than a “thinker,” and take just a glimpse into the fascinating world that is the blogosphere.

And let me say it again: John Roberts is an excellent choice to be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.