Well, it looks like Bush will get to appoint a Supreme Court Justice. Justice O'Connor just announced her resignation. Of course, SCOTUSblog has a good roundup..
This is to inform you of my decision to retire from my position as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, effective upon the nomination and confirmation of my successor. It has been a great privilege indeed to have served as a member of the court for 24 terms. I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under our constitutional structure.
Although she was considered a conservative, she's always been quite pragmatic, especially when it comes to women's rights.
The power I exert on the court depends on the power of my arguments, not on my gender.
There is also reason to believe, based on her questions at oral arguments, that she had a big role to play in the active inducement test created in Monday's Grokster opinion. (I'll get my thoughts down on this one here over the weekend, but I see that as a very well-balanced opinion). She also joined Justice Breyer's concurrence in believing that Grokster met the Sony standard.
Will we be reading opinions from Justice Crapo? That just sounds funny....