Miriam for Chief Justice?

Yes, I'd love to see a woman become chief justice, but not her.

I was thinking more about ynares santiago or sandoval gutierrez.

Anyway here's a comment from Anthony Scalia:

In the US, George Bush appointed an outsider as Chief Justice, John Roberts. I don’t know how the US bar reacted to this. Could it be that Bush thought that since a seat was vacated by the then Chief Justice, the replacement should be appointed Chief Justice as well?

John Roberts was originally meant to replace the retiring sandra day o connor.

But when Chief justice Rehnquist died on Sept 2005, bush immediately used roberts to replace Rehnquist instead of justice o'connor.

why?

because, nominating a chief justice of the supreme court needs the confirmation of the Senate.

also, appointing a new justice to the supreme court needs senate confirmation.

if bush appointed mr. roberts to replace o'connor, then appointed scalia or clarence thomas to Chief justice. THAT'S TWO TOUGH CONFIRMATION HEARINGS... which could end up being very bloody for the bush admin that's been battered by low approval ratings and is not looking for any more fights.

So bush simplified it by nominating roberts to the Supreme court AND the Chief justice instead. ONE nomination hearing na lang.

which means sandra day o connor's retirement was postponed until they found a replacement for her in the name of samuel alito.

but this GMA has balls to nominate miriam not only to the SC, but also to the chief justice position. unlike john roberts who is perceived to be a moderate, miriam is anything but.

yes, she may have the credentials to be a supreme court justice, but does anybody here want this loony character, this arroyo partisan in the SC, let alone be chief justice, and be the deciding factor in arroyo's CHA CHA or be the presiding judge kung magkaroon ng impeachment trial next year?

this is crazy! this is lunacy!

UPDATE: the PDI editorial opines:

IT’S HARD TO FAULT MAID MIRIAM FOR WISHING upon a star. It is every lawyer’s dream to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or at least to wonder about the possibility, so we cannot begrudge Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago for green-lighting her nomination (by the same obscure lawyers’ group that nominated her last year) to the Judicial and Bar Council. In her excitement, she could not contain her delight at the sheer prospect of becoming the country’s first woman chief justice. (She even said she could be the first woman chief justice in the world, an unfortunate assertion, since Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada visited the country only last month.)

We certainly think she has the legal firepower to take on the big guns on the Court, but we must also point out the obvious. Despite her formative experience as a trial court judge, Santiago is a political player par excellence.

Unfortunately for her, we do not need another politician in the high court. What we need is a legal intelligence animated by a deep sense of country and unafraid to rise above politics.

This is not to say that ex-politicians have no place in the high court; Jose P. Laurel, Marcelo Fernan, Hilario Davide are distinguished exceptions in our history (and Charles Evans Hughes and Earl Warren in that of the United States). But Santiago does not seem ready to renounce the give and take of politics, at which she is demonstrably adept. That is quite enough to disqualify her.

amen.