Events during the summer and early fall of 2005 brought the Supreme Court to the front pages of America's newspapers and placed it in the opening segments of televised newscasts, competing there with the remarkably compelling stories emanating from Iraq and Katrina-drenched New Orleans. This uncommon visibility resulted from Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's announcement on June 1, 2005 of her retirement from the Court, followed on September 3 by the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. For the preceding eleven years the membership of the Supreme Court had not changed. The only longer period of such stability was during the era of the historic Marshall Court (membership remained the same for twenty-two years between 1812 and 1834). President George W. Bush, with a majority of fellow Republicans in the Senate, found himself in what appeared to be an enviable position to influence appreciably the Court's future direction with two new appointments. As an acknowledged "conservative," the President, many thought, would ensure that the Court had a clear conservative majority for the foreseeable future. Thus, his appointments and the Senate's advice and consent on these appointments augured partisan battle because of the apparent division in the nation and the Court over fundamental issues of law and social policy. Continued...