Justice O’Connor retiring; what will her replacement think of Harris and Almendarez-Torres?

I am sure sentencing issues will not be the main focus of discussion as the media and blogsphere discusses the news of Justice O’Connor’s announced retirement and her potential replacement.  Nevertheless, as I detailed in this post, Justice O’Connor served as a key fifth vote in the 5-4 decisions that produced the Almendarez-Torres “prior conviction exception” and the Harris “mandatory minimum” exception to the Apprendi–Blakely rule.  If (when?) President Bush were to nominate replacement Justices in the “Scalia-Thomas” mold, the future of Almendarez-Torres and Harris would seem to be even shakier.

Of course, the Supreme Court Nomination Blog, SCOTUSblog and How Appealing are the places to go to get the scoop and surely lots of links on the big news concerning Justice O’Connor’s announced retirement.  Already SCOTUSblog has this post noting that confirmation hearings are usually 6-8 weeks after an announced retirement.