It seems to me that transferring Michael Chertoff from the Department of Homeland Security would just repeat some of the problems surrounding Alberto Gonzales. Conservatives would likely be unenthusiastic. Democrats would use the confirmation hearings as an excuse to beat up the Bush administration.
Ramesh Ponnuru has floated Orrin Hatch. In all seriousness, that may not such a bad idea. Hatch probably wouldn’t be that difficult to confirm, is reasonably conservative on legal issues, and is fairly fluent when making the case for conservative judges. And, as Ponnuru points out, “It would be one less vote for S-CHIP.”
