Conservatives in the know had Roberts on their short list.
Still, it suprised myself at the time that so many were clueless about Roberts.
Even people like Coulter foolishly used the word 'stealth' to describe this guy.
I still can't explain the Miers thing. Maybe after her recomending people like Janice Brown, Pricilla Owen, and William Pryor, President Bush thought he could slide her in there. It was a bad choice to try to avoid a fight.
I wonder if the remaining 6 on that short list will be picked to replace Stevens or Ginsburg should they retire or expire.
Luttig and McConnell will be the next two.
If another vacancy occurs, Bush's choice may be influenced by who retires.
There are other names who would be in the running. They include Karen Williams, Diane Sykes, and (my personal choice) Viet Dihn.
"I still can't explain the Miers thing."
The only thing that I think explains it is that Bush has a tendency to get lazy at times.
I think I can explain it, though I don't agree with it.
I think Bush picked Miers for two reasons. First, the last openly conservative nominee was Thomas, who barely won confirmation and only did so because a substantial number of Democrats broke ranks. Bush believed he needed to pick a stealth candidate and not one with an established conservative judicial history.
Second, Republican presidents have had a very bad track record in picking Supreme Court Justices. Half the time, they either turn out to be liberals or they become more and more liberal after they are on the Court. Warren, Brennan, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy and Souter were all nominated by Republican presidents. Souter in particular had to be on Bush's mind. When Bush named Miers, I think he decided to go with someone that he personally knew very well and that he trusted would be conservative and would remain conservative.
The trouble is, none of the rest of us knew that. Conservatives in this country wanted Bush to name someone that we trusted would be conservative and would remain conservative. We also wanted an intellectual heavyweight who might be able to prod some of the Justices in the quavering middle (i.e., Kennedy & Souter) to see the light every now and then.
Alito proved that the President can nominate a Justice with a long and consistent conservative track record and a convincing intellect and still win confirmation. Hopefully, Bush will remember this lesson if he gets an opportunity to name another Justice.
Personally, I think it would be good to have one or two Justices who have worked their entire careers as attorneys (or even non-attorneys) in the private sector and not spent their entire careers drawing public judicial salaries. Once we have a good solid conservative majority on the court (6 or 7) then I would have no problem with replacing one of the remaining liberals with someone like Miers.
Think we could wrangle them an invite to the next time the VP goes Elk hunting or some other large caliber opp?
Re the Miers nomination..of late I'm starting to come to the conclusion that the whole thing was planned,a strategery..to energize the conservative base and force/dare them to support the next nominee (Alito)..here's why. Miers is obviously a smart, rational, and intelligent woman. without any pretense whatsoever. Why do I say this?..simply because if she wasn't that way, she would not long survive in W.'s inner circle..Miers was involved in the selection, vetting, and coaching of many Circuit Court nominees as well as having a big role in getting Roberts through the hearing. So there was no way in the world that she, a rational being, having seen the process so up-close and personal; could have ANY thought that she would survive the SJC..Therefore, she was a decoy..