No one else. They were looking for a slim paper trail to get the nom. through the Senate. Reagan gave us Kennedy and O’Connor. Hopefully we all learn from past compromises so as not to repeat mistakes.
Cruz is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t by those who support other candidates. Roberts looked like a good choice to NEARLY everyone, enough so that he became the chief justice. Dig up the FR archives and see how many freepers supported him. Nearly everyone.
Freepers supported him because we were dependent on those who said that they knew.
Ted Cruz was among those who said that he knew Roberts to be a conservative. Cruz was wrong.
The real brain teaser for me, even at that time, was why in the world they would elevate a brand new Scotus justice to be Chief Justice.
That really was Scalia’s chair. Everyone knew it.
Had he been Chief Justice, a lot of this stuff would not have happened. To include his death.
I understand that. I wasn’t here until 2006, but I did not support him. There was no record he would be a conservative.