US: President George Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney were lunching together in the White House on Thursday when they were interrupted by news that a sealed letter would be delivered by the Supreme Court chief marshal the next day.
The letter arrived at 9am yesterday. It contained the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to be appointed to the nine-member bench. The president called her immediately to express appreciation for 24 years of service in the nation's highest court.
"For an old ranching girl, you turned out pretty good," he told Ms O'Connor, who grew up on an Arizona ranch. "You're one of the great Americans. I wish I were there to hug you." Mr Bush then went out to the Rose Garden to praise O'Connor to reporters as "a discerning and conscientious judge and a public servant of complete integrity". It was his duty to appoint a successor, he said and he would recommend a replacement who would "faithfully interpret the constitution and laws of our country". With that battle was joined.
Mr Bush spent part of yesterday closeted with senior advisers to discuss the selection process. The meeting included vice-president Cheney, political adviser Karl Rove and the person many believe may be Mr Bush's first choice, attorney general Alberto Gonzales.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is regarded as a moderate in a split Supreme Court and this raises the stakes over her successor. The attraction of Mr Gonzales is that he has already been confirmed twice by the Senate, although conservatives did not like some of his rulings when chief justice of Texas.
The nomination of a conservative who would upset the balance in the court would be met with ferocious resistance from many Democrats. Yet the president is under enormous pressure from his evangelical Christian base to appoint a judge from the conservative right.
It will be at least a week before Mr Bush announces his nominee. He will review briefing material on Air Force One when he travels to Denmark on Tuesday and during the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, from Wednesday to Friday, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
The president promised to consult Republican Senate majority leader Bill Frist and minority Democratic leader Harry Reid, as well as members of the judiciary committee, before announcing his choice.
Yesterday, Mr Bush expressed the hope that Democrats would not block a vote on the Senate floor. However, he faces the prospect of a filibuster and the exercise of the "nuclear option" in the Senate if the Democrats regard his nomination as too conservative.
Senator Edward Kennedy, the most prominent liberal Democrat, warned against an "in-your-face" nomination and urged Mr Bush to select someone "whose record is consistent with the ideals and freedoms of the United States". Republican Senator John McCain expressed confidence that there would be no Senate melt-down over the president's choice.
"The Democrats will not filibuster except in extraordinary circumstances," he predicted, referring to a pact signed by seven Democrats and seven Republicans several weeks ago.
This ensured that some of Mr Bush's controversial appeals court nominations got an up-and-down vote, and prevented Senator Frist using the Republican majority to dispense with the centuries-old rule allowing a minority to talk out a controversial nomination. Such an act was termed the "nuclear option" as Democrats had threatened to bring Senate business to a halt with obstructionist tactics if this right was taken away. The Senate will try to confirm the replacement for Ms O'Connor before the supreme court's new term begins in October.
"I think it is an important objective and I think we can reach it," said judiciary committee chairman Arlen Specter, who also expressed confidence that Democrats would not filibuster a Supreme Court nominee.
Mr Bush is not expected to announce a nominee before next Friday, which means that Senate confirmation hearings will not be held until August to allow time for Republicans and Democrats on the judiciary committee to conduct their own investigations of the nominee.