Off The Bench?

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For the record, friends say O'Connor's health is good, despite hand tremors. She made a hole-in-one while golfing on the weekend after the election decision. She's also hiring clerks for the next two terms. Still, family in Arizona and a house she and her husband built there beckon. As for Rehnquist, a widower, the dean of the University of Arizona law school denies that he's about to come on board. But people who know him think he's restless enough to leave the court if, they say, for example, he becomes romantically involved.

That's more than enough fodder to keep the gossip mills churning. And plenty too to keep the White House judge pickers up at night.