Bush Moves To Name Appellate Judge in Va. - 4th Circuit Veteran Is Leaving Bench

The Washington Post ^ | May 18, 2006 | Jerry Markon

[new yorker 77]

President Bush is moving to nominate a replacement for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge J. Michael Luttig, who announced last week that he is leaving the bench to become senior vice president and general counsel at the Boeing Co.

White House officials have discussed a number of possible candidates with Virginia's two Republican senators, said David Snepp, a spokesman for Sen. George Allen. The person chosen will require confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

The process of selecting Luttig's replacement to the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is being coordinated by the office of White House counsel Harriet Miers. Snepp said that both Allen and Sen. John W. Warner will have "ample opportunity to express their views on any potential nominee.''

Warner, in a statement Monday, said he and Allen were "consulting with the White House to provide a Virginia perspective on filling this vacancy.''

The Virginia legal community remained stunned at the departure of Luttig, who had been on Bush's short list for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Legal experts said it is rare for a judge to leave a lifetime appointment to the bench.

"He is such an established part of the 4th Circuit that it is difficult to imagine the court without him,'' said William H. Hurd, a Richmond lawyer who argued several cases before Luttig when he was Virginia's solicitor general. Hurd called Luttig "a judge of extreme intellect and an extremely dogged questioner. He would press the attorneys for an answer to a question and would not be deflected.''

Luttig was considered one of the nation's leading judicial conservatives and was closely examined for the two-Supreme-Court-vacancies-last-year, lawyers familiar with the administration's deliberations have said. Those slots went to John G. Roberts Jr., now the chief justice, and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

[ncountylee]

Luttig was my personal choice for the Supreme Court and I wish him well at Boeing. He could still be named to the court later.

[new yorker 77]

He did the 50 year old white guy math when it comes to the court.

Not to say that Bush would not nominate next go around, but I think a conservative who is also Hispanic or a woman or both will be nominate next.

This will drive the libs insane.

[Mad Dawg]

One correction: The story says that Bush is talking it over with Virginia's two Republican senators. That should be Virginia's one Republican senator and one RINO senator. IF Warner has a hand in it we'll have a judge who thinks abortion and serial polygamy are family values and that we ought to give in in Iraq while pardoning all illegal immigrants.