Only once in my career did I know FOR SURE what was happening. I was on staff to the Bicentennial Commission on the Constitution, when Chief Justice Warren Burger resigned so President Reagan could nominate Rehnquist. I knew about that one transaction 30 minutes before the official announcement. That's because Burger traded the Chairmanship of the Commission (at a high salary, appointed by the President, including the firing of the former Chairman, Jepson) for letting Reagan name a new Chief Justice.
Other than that one instance, I offer nothing more than educated guesses on this process.
Congressman Billybob
This might be premature, so forgive me, but what do you know about Judge Clement? Do you think she is reliable?
Do you know the context in which Edith Clement said abortion was constitutionally protected and that Roe was settled law? If she said it in a ruling, a case could be made that she was only abiding by Supreme Court precedent, as she had to do as a lower court judge. But if she said it as a philosophical belief, in a speech or in response to a question, that's very worrisome, and it would hardly qualify her as a strict constructionist to be defending the worst example of judicial overreach in our nation's history.
Thanks for the insight.
Now you've got me speculating on what bait it would take to lure a few more off the bench!