Rush to Judgeship.

Via a fine rant over at The Blog From Another Dimension, I see the motivation for Bush moving so quickly on filling the Chief Justice seat no matter if his candidate is qualified, or not. Towards the end of this article in WP is the clue:

Getting a new chief justice of Bush's choosing in place quickly avoids the scenario of having liberal Justice John Paul Stevens presiding over court sessions, leading private meetings of the justices and thereby influencing court deliberations. As the court's senior justice, Stevens would take over Rehnquist's administrative duties until a new chief is confirmed.

There's no way Bush would let a liberal run the court even for a second. What better way can you think of for Democrats to stick it in the eye of the administration than by filibustering the Roberts nomination?