The retirement announcement from U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor means the scrambling is already underway to fill the seat on the High Court. Many observers expected Chief Justice William Rehnquist to be the first of the current group of judges to retire, but Saint Louis University associate law professor Eric Claeys isn’t surprised. Claeys, who once clerked for Rehnquist, says that while the Chief Justice has health problems – Justice O’Conner and her husband have serious health concerns. Claeys expects social conservatives to do all they can to have a conservative nominated to the Bench, while liberals do what they can to prevent that from happening.
