October Surprise?
Chief Justice William Rehnquist is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, and at 80 his tenure is perhaps equally as tenuous from this as it would be from other health issues, let alone from just wanting to hang up those snazzy robes at last, leading to the inevitable conclusion: whoever gets the White House will now definitely have at least one Supreme Court vacancy to appoint to, and the Chief Justice at that (although the President can elevate a sitting Justice). Kerry and Bush have already indicated their differences prospectively over this issue, but will they make more of a point of it in the remaining days of the campaign with the release of this bit of news? After Rehnquist, whither the Court?