this is an adventure

Justice David Souter will leave the Supreme Court at the end of this term, somewhat unexpectedly, at the relatively young age of 69. Expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth by conservatives over Souter’s potential replacements, but the real problem falls on Barack Obama.

WSJ beauty: “Chrysler executives and employees were throwing a daylong party to celebrate a just-signed deal that gave the stalwart U.S. auto maker a new majority owner, private-equity giant Cerberus Capital Management. A team of acrobats performed flips and stunts while rappelling from the roof of Chrysler’s headquarters. Daytime fireworks lit up the sky.”

Cornell Professor William Jacobsen makes an important point: “Arlen Specter switching may have given Republicans a trump card to block an unacceptable replacement” for SCOTUS’s Souter: “ironically, Specter’s defection may give Republicans the ability to filibuster judicial nominees at the Judiciary Committee level, so the nominees never get out of committee.”

Debra Saunders confesses that she’s confused by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s explanation of the briefings she received on waterboarding, and her push for a “truth commission” to investigate further. “Pelosi knew that White House lawyers had sanctioned waterboarding in 2002 — and did not protest.” Well, that’s not going to sit well with her constituents.