I like your Luttig, Roberts and the one they call Scaltio (Alito), plus Pyror, and Janice Rogers Brown. I am certain POTUS is going for the gold and that he's been waiting for this fight.
My point with Ted, is that 60 isn't TOO old, but POTUS has other younger ones in his arsenal. The appointments will be a huge part of his legacy and he's not going to blow it.
the white males are too easy for the Dems to demonize - there is no political downside to them demonizing a white male. we can replace Rehnquist with a white male.
this is the perfect time for an Hispanic nominee. If Alito is the best choice, send him up - and let's get some 527s running ads on Univision and Telemundo in support of him.
I don't think it will happen but I want credit if it does. Remember the name Judge Jerry Edwin Smith of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, nominated by Ronaldus Maximus, and serving for about twenty years now. Age: Mid-50s. Native of Lubbock, Texas. More recently of the Houston area. His friends once joked that William Rehnquist might anchor the lonely left end of the Smith Court. Thoroughly principled, spine of steel, first rate mind, Yale undergrad, Yale Law. Married with many children. To my Catholic friends and co-religionists: Judge Jerry is (a Mass attending) Methodist by accident of birth but his wife and kids are quite Catholic and I am betting he will be eventually.