Scalia vs. Thomas.

If President Bush really is considering Justice Thomas as the next Chief Justice, I guess we'll hear this quote from Justice Scalia a few more times:

Specifically, Scalia told [Ken Foskett, the author of "Judging Thomas: The Life and Times of Clarence Thomas,"] that Thomas "doesn't believe in stare decisis, period." Clarifying his remark, Scalia added that "if a constitutional line of authority is wrong, he would say let's get it right. I wouldn't do that."

The link is to a Washington Post opinion piece of October 14th. It goes on:

Stare decisis is a fancy Latin term that stands for a bedrock proposition of U.S. law: that the Supreme Court will uphold precedent and not disturb settled law without special justification.

Well, the trick is in figuring out what constitutes special justification.