Take up this Challenge, George

Mr. Bush, You now have a golden opportunity to do the right thing for the whole of America by choosing a centrist judge to replace Sandra Day O'Conner.

In a piece today on O'Conner, USA Today states: "On a divided court, O'Connor blocked the efforts of colleagues on the left and the right to push the nation further than she thought it should go. That's why her departure — and the fight over whom President Bush should pick to replace her — is especially significant."

"She was seeking social stability," says David Garrow, a professor at Emory Law School in Atlanta. "Whether the White House recognizes it or not, there is a question of whether you go with a narrow jurist or someone who is more theoretically expansive."

Speaking on the abortion issue, O'Conner's's statement, "Some of us ... find abortion offensive to our most basic principles of morality, but that cannot control our decision," she wrote. "Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code." serves as the kind of measure of the jurist we want to take her place on the court.

Whether O'Connor's centrist view survives will depend on who succeeds her and how the other justices reorder themselves. O'Connor often quoted former justice Byron White: "When you change one justice, you change the whole court."

There it is George, make a great choice and you will do the right thing for America; pick a radical conservative and not only will you set us up for a huge fight in congress, you will do a disservice for the country and for your reputation.

Fred Roswols, SV WINGS, Hong Kong