The Elephant in the Room
'A Well-regulated Militia'
An associate justice of the Supreme Court died on the eve of a challenge to the standing interpretation of the Second Amendment.
President Gloria Addison sought a replacement who shared her view of the amendment.
She believed she had found the right man in Randolph Cavendish of Rhode Island, although many considered him an independent-minded jurist.
Supporters of the amendment’s ‘individual right’ clause concluded the president wanted Cavendish on the Court to restrict gun ownership, and they conspired to stop her.
Addison proved to be wrong about Justice Cavendish. His political philosophy proved more important to him than being the White House’s man on the court.
Cavendish’s seeming betrayal of the president left her with options she couldn’t have imagined when her political career began in a small Indiana town. How far would she go to get what she wanted? And how far her enemies?
In the ongoing struggle over gun rights no one was safe, not the president, not Justice Cavendish, and not Congress.
FROM THE BOOK: Two hours after her frustrating discussion with the attorney general on how best to proceed with a nomination to the Supreme Court, President Addison met again with Jordan, Ortega, and, additionally, Oregon’s senior senator, Philip Clark, the majority leader. McKinnon sat in, of course.
“I’m going to weigh right in on this, folks, so fasten your seatbelts. Phil, Simon’s got a long and a short list of qualified candidates. He says there’re two women on the ten-person long list, and not one on the short list of three ...
“So, here’s what’s changing. We are moving the two women on Simon’s long list to the short one and losing two men, and don’t any of you give me that crap about no women being qualified!”
“Jesus, Gloria,” the vice president whined, “this is pretty short notice ...”
McKinnon took his nose out of the briefing book in his lap.
“Xavier, it’s ‘Madam President,’ and Jesus has nothing to do with what’s happening here ...
“Phil, I want you to look at Simon’s lists and tell me who on those lists is confirmable. I’m going to assume the two women are confirmable. That’s the bottom line here, gents. Pick your top guy from the three currently on the short list to go with the women. Chuck the leftovers. That leaves three. Got it?”