Bredesen's best legal option

Larry Daughtrey quipped in yesterday's Tennessean about Governor Bredesen's decision to select a supreme court justice: "Pick a justice? About as much fun as a tick bite." One thing that stuck out to me as I read about Houston Gordon as his various failed attempts to receive a judicial appointment is the way that even well-intended efforts by gov't to redress past racial discrimination--in particular, non-institutional discrimination, almost inevitably results in institutional (and therefore intolerable) discrimination.

But over at the City Paper John Rodgers reports on what I believe is the perfect way for Bredesen to delay making this politically difficult decision until after November 7th: challenging the actions of the Judicial Selection Commission in court. Consequently, I don't buy Ed Cromer's Bredesen-as-tough-guy assertion that legal action might be the result of a principled decision by Bredesen to either defend "rule of law" or to "save face":

“I think (Bredesen) would risk losing some face and could almost allow himself to be pushed around if he lets the commission get away with this,” . . . “I don’t think he tends to let that happen.”

Cross-posted at the JIMBrysonforgovernor Blog.