Rumors about Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens' health

Who knows if this is even remotely true, though Sean Rushton has always struck me as a reasonably careful guy. If this is true and Bush does get to nominate a replacement, you haven't seen a confirmation battle as what you would see at that time:

For the past several weeks, there has been a rumor circulating among high-level officials in Washington, D.C., that a member of the U.S. Supreme Court has received grave medical news and will announce his or her retirement by year’s end. While such rumors are not unusual in the nation’s capital, this one comes from credible sources. Additionally, a less credible but still noteworthy post last week at the liberal Democratic Underground blog says, “Send your good vibes to Justice Stevens. I just got off the phone with a friend of his family and right now he is very ill and at 86 years old that is not good.” . . . .

Apparently these rumors have been floating around Washington for a little while now. If Chafee wins in Rhode Island, Republicans would probably need 52 votes to get someone through. That probably means that Republicans can't lose more than three seats tomorrow.