Bush narrows Supreme Court selection to 2, sources say(great picks IMHO!!!)

Mercury News ^ | Sat, Oct. 29, 2005 | JAN CRAWFORD GREENBURG

[Halfmanhalfamazing]

WASHINGTON - Rebounding from the failed nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, President Bush is poised to select between two of the nation's leading conservative federal appeals court judges - both experienced jurists with deep backgrounds in constitutional law - for what promises to be a bruising Senate confirmation battle.

With an announcement expected Sunday or Monday, administration officials have narrowed the focus to Judges Samuel Alito of New Jersey and Michael Luttig of Virginia, sources involved in the process said. Both have sterling legal qualifications and solid conservative credentials, and both would set off an explosive fight with Senate Democrats, who are demanding a more moderate nominee to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

[Torie]

Ok, but I suspect few in the law guild would agree with Alito's commerce clause take. It is close to a constitution in exile take. The Dems will hang him over it, an anti commerce clause "extremist" in order to be soft on machine guns.

[RetSignman]

But it's fun to watch monkeys fling poo.. Yeah, I like to watch liberals too.

[Torie]

No problem, you constitution in exilist you. But the main thing is that it will tank Alito, in my judgment, unless there is more to the story, which there might be. I am relying on Rosen's characterization, having not read the decision, which could be a mistake.

[JWojack]

Anyone know the religious affiliation (if any) of potential SCOTUS nominees Williams and Sykes?

Thanks.

[RobbyS]

Souter will be around until he is 90.

[Miss Marple]

That is a very astute observation about Sekulow.

[RobbyS]

Certainly showed more "cool" than Fitzgerald did.

[Torie]

I think the former is Baptist and the latter Catholic. No one "represents" me the near atheist unaffiliated skeptic. That is just so unfair.

[NeoCaveman]

No problem, you constitution in exilist you

As the venerable columnist James Lileks said "the Constitution is not in exile, it's in a safe deposit box in the Cayman Islands".

But yes, I like Janice Rogers Brown consider the "switch in time that saved nine" as our very own socialist revolution.

[ElPatriota]

...A bigger waste of time is standing there watching them do it...you have a choice..use it....

Correctomundo :)!

That is what I don't understand. So somehow is better to STFU.... quiet as we can be... don't say a worddddddd!... shhhhhhhhh.... just stay very quiet.

The BEAUTY of this 'new media' as I like to call it, IS EXACTLY the opposite, it gives us a voice! that if nothing else, we can set/voice our expectations out there for the whole wide world to see... and that in itself puts pressure on polititians to listen to us. Expectations, have to be either met, or ignored. And it is up to the politician decide on his action. But he CAN NOT SAY, THAT HE DID NOT KNOW... if he igores the expectations, he does it knowingly and should expect consequences.

[NeoCaveman]

Anyone know the religious affiliation (if any) of potential SCOTUS nominees Williams and Sykes?

Williams is Baptist but not Southern Bapstist. Sykes is Catholic.

Both strike me as strict constuctionists and also easy on the eyes :)

[kennedy]

With an announcement expected Sunday or Monday, administration officials have narrowed the focus to Judges Samuel Alito of New Jersey and Michael Luttig of Virginia, sources involved in the process said.

Well, that pretty much guarantees that neither Alito or Luttig is being considered for the nomination.

[NeoCaveman]

No one "represents" me the near atheist unaffiliated skeptic. That is just so unfair.

Sandy O was Unitarian, that's as close as it gets :)

[Torie]

Ya, that is. My mother went that way, after my atheist dad died. I went to a service with her once. It was unbearable. The coup de grace was the congregation voting on a document handed out to endorse which read like the Communist Manifesto, including dissolving corporations that did not serve the public good, as determined by the state. Lots of autarkic protectionist stuff too, right out of AFL-CIO central. The thing was affirmatively endorsed without a peep. I told the minister what I thought about the whole affair after the service, both procedurally and substantively, and he said, you know, you just sound like my MBA son! I said to the minister, that he must have married a very smart woman, indeed.

And there you have it.

[NeoCaveman]

Great response!!! I think we could make a Latin Mass conservative Catholic out of you yet.

It might even help your elevation to SCOTUS

:D

[Arizona Carolyn]

That was Mrs. Bush's choice. Not the President gets a choice.

[USPatriette]

"Miers was not an "abomination", even if picking Miers arguably was. She is a fine lady and doesn't deserve the ad hominem slimes and slanders that some unprincipled critics indulged in."

Thank you. I agree. I'm really sick of it. I can't believe it's still going on. Some people have issues.

[Miss Marple]

Williams is a Baptist. I don't know about Sykes.

[NeoCaveman]

Williams is a Baptist. I don't know about Sykes.

You are right on Williams, Sykes is Catholic, either one would get slimed by the MSM and by the Democrats. I'm ready willing and able to defend either and I think every conservative will too.

[Miss Marple]

Williams is very conservative, and would present well on television. She is also from the South, which would be an asset, in my opinion.

I frankly don't know enough about her legal writings to make intelligent comment. She would be an interesting pick, I think.