If Rehnquist quacks his last quack before the election - only a week away - the court could end up short a justice, with a presumable 4-4 tie in the event of an ideologically-based ruling on some election challenge. That would leave President Bush in a position to name a replacement to grant an election in his favor.
If that happens, fellow Americans, we are fucked. That is the worst conflict of interest imaginable in the American system of democracy; the electorate would be neutered in its role of granting legitimacy to the Government ("We the Appointed..."). It would completely de-legitimize the presidency and make Florida 2000 look like a polite disagreement over tea. It's not likely to happen, but this is getting a little creepy; should Rehnquist die of a heart attack or disappear, Soviet-style, with a "cold", it's quite possible the ability of the Second Amendment to protect The People against their government will either be proven beyond doubt or thrown into the trash heap of historically disproven fallacies.
The best defense against this is the Senate. I do believe there are enough Republican Senators with a conscience to vote against an emergency Supreme Courty appointee clearly designed to steal the election. But if not, God help us all; the yawning abyss of chaos lies beneath the next step (watch it, that last one's a doozy!).
And God help you all this somehow prevents the Red Sox from claiming the World Series: the backlash could reduce "fly-over country" to "charred fucking hole in the ground" country.
