Is anyone else wondering if Republican Senator Arlen Spector is completely off his rocker? Senator Spector is weighing in on the issue of Supreme Court vacancies. Spector is suggested that President Bush nominate to the position of Chief Justice, a former lawyer named Sandra Day O'Connor.

"I think it would be very tempting if the president said to Justice O'Connor, 'You could help the country now,' " Mr. Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and a pivotal player in any confirmation hearings, said in an interview on the CBS program "Face the Nation." "She has received so much adulation that a confirmation proceeding would be more like a coronation, and she might be willing to stay on for a year or so."

There are several problems with this approach. First of all, Ms. O'Connor has already announced plans to retire from the Supreme Court. Second, the position of Chief Justice isn't even vacant. It's occupied by Justice William Rehnquist.

Now, the wacky comments of a single Senator wouldn't normally be so newsworthy, except that Mr. Spector is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. You would think that as Chairman of the Committee that examines judicial nominations, he'd at least know who's on the Supreme Court.