Posted on 07/04/2005 9:20:24 PM PDT by GOPGuide
[SNIP]
On Friday, with the announced retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor from the Supreme Court, It took a few minutes for the news to set in on Capitol Hill, among Republicans and Democrats alike. After all, even the White House in briefing Republican leadership on the Hill spoke in the belief that it would be Chief Justice William Rehnquist who is retiring.
"The White House seemed to be expecting Rehnquist first, that was what my boss was getting briefed on," says a staffer for a Senator sitting on the Judiciary Committee. "We were told Rehnquist in July, possibly later this year."
Rumors are already swirling about a possible third retirement after November. The most likely would be Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who according to former Supreme Court clerks may be in poorer health than Justice Rehnquist.
"That's the seat for [Albert] Gonzales, that third seat if it opens up," says Department of Justice staffer. "All of this depends on how the first nomination goes, but the assumption here is that this is not the time for Gonzales."
As of this writing federal Judge Emilio Garza is the frontrunner to replace O'Conner. There are several indicators, which may all be red herrings, but that is half the fun.
First, Texas Sen. John Cornyn met with the President, as well as Chief of Staff Andrew Card and several members of the White House Counsel office early Friday. Up on Capitol Hill, rumors were quickly swirling that Cornyn had been offered the Supreme Court nomination. Those rumors were fueled when his senior staff essentially went underground for several hours.
But later in the day, Cornyn was making television appearances to discuss the nominations process, as well as placing an op-ed about the process.
Cornyn is now believed to be the President's point person in the Senate to help measure the level of support for potential nominees. "He's the President's 'consultation' guy," says a Senate leadership source. "That's how we're proceeding. If he is the nominee, we will be surprised again. But that's nothing new with this White House."
Cornyn and Garza know each other from their days in Texas and other legal circles.
Another indicator of Garza's status is that several senior Republican staffers on the Judiciary Committee have begun poring over court rulings from the period of 1987 through 1990, a period when Garza served as a U.S. district judge before his elevation to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
That research, though, could just as well apply to Judge Edith Hollan Jones, who has been sitting on the Fifth Circuit since 1985. Jones was considered for possible Supreme Court nominations by President George H.W. Bush.
What makes you think that they were. The media was caught off guard because they can't remember what they reported just two years ago.
The Media said the adminstration was caught off guard when the Soviet Union collapsed. No one on the inside of the Reagan administration, as was George H.W.Bush, was surprised when the Soviet Union collapsed. Reagan had predicted it and based our foreign policy on that prospect. But the media was surprised when what Ronald Reagan said was going to happen, happened and said that Bush 41 was surprised as well.
What is proved over and over is that the media can lie to us and we believe it. There were many stories in 2003 that said O'Conner wanted to to retire. There were several stories that said Bush asked O'conner to wait until 2005 to retire so there would be more Republicans in the Senate to confirm her successor.
The question was never is O'Conner going to retire in 2005. It was all over the media in 2003 that she was!!!! Every one with who could remember something for more than a year and a half knew she was going to retire after this term. They also knew it she was staying until the end of the 2005 session at the request of the President.
The only question was the timing. If the President asked her to wait until 2005 to retire and she agreed... Do you think it likely that the President knew she was going to retire in 2005?
It was so reported in 2003 by both NOVAK and Krauthammer.
You are precisely correct in that Cornyn has a lifetime Senatorial average of 93%. Thanks for pointing this out.
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