Posted on 09/30/2005 11:57:49 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - President Bush, closing in on another nomination of a new Supreme Court justice, has completed his consultations with the Senate about who should fill the seat of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a White House spokesman said Friday.
Bush was expected to announce his choice in the next few days. White House press secretary Scott McClellan ruled out an announcement Friday but otherwise indicated the nomination could come anytime.
The president, leaving the White House Friday afternoon for a weekend at Camp David, offered reporters only a slight grin and a shrug when asked if he had made a decision. He was returning to the White House Sunday to attend the Red Mass, a service for those in the legal profession.
On Monday, Bush will go to the Supreme Court for the investiture of John Roberts as chief justice. Roberts was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in at the White House on Thursday to succeed the late William H. Rehnquist.
McClellan said Bush and White House officials have discussed the next nomination with more than 80 of the 100 members of the Senate. He called the level of consultation unprecedented. He dismissed predictions that the next nomination would trigger a bruising confirmation fight.
"There was a lot of talk about that before," when Roberts was nominated, McClellan said. "It did not happen."
Advocacy groups on the right are expecting Bush to name a solid conservative. Liberal groups are making a late push for a moderate.
Senate Democrats say if the president submits the name of any previous judicial nominee whom they have filibustered — including federal appellate judges Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown, William Pryor and Hispanic lawyer Miguel Estrada — they will fight to the bitter end.
Bush did not offer any hints during the swearing-in ceremony for Roberts.
Roberts said the Senate's bipartisan vote for him was "confirmation of what is for me a bedrock principle — that judging is different from politics."
All of the Senate's 55 Republicans, half of the 44 Democrats and independent James Jeffords of Vermont supported him.
Roberts' confirmation came ahead of the court's new term, which begins Monday.
As for Bush's list of prospects, "it's not that long," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
Legal activists in contact with the White House suggest the list has been narrowed to about five or six candidates — appeals court judges and perhaps some who have never sat on the bench.
Conservatives hope Bush's nominee will shift the court to the right.
Replacing Rehnquist with Roberts is expected to keep the court's current balance. Installing a strong conservative to succeed the more moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor could tilt the court to the right.
"The stakes are particularly high with the replacement for O'Connor, a mainstream conservative who often provided the decisive vote to uphold many rights and protections," said Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way.
The group urged the president on Thursday to find a consensus nominee and suggested four federal appellate judges: Ann Williams, Sonia Sotomayor, Jose Cabranes and Edward Prado.
"There are a number of distinguished judges — first appointed to the federal bench by Republican presidents — who would, like Sandra Day O'Connor, likely receive overwhelming bipartisan support to replace her," Neas said.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the Judicial Confirmation Network notes that Bush has a record of nominating individuals with conservative judicial philosophies for the appeals court. Also, despite opposition from Senate Democrats, many of Bush's conservative nominees eventually were confirmed.
"I'm hoping and expecting the president will stay on track as he has been in the past five years because it's succeeding now better than it ever has before," said Wendy Long, counsel for the group, which is backing Bush's picks. "Why in heaven's name would you reverse course?"
Mentioned most frequently in recent days are appeals court judges Owen, Karen Williams and Alice Batchelder; Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan; White House counsel Harriet Miers; Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; and PepsiCo lawyer Larry Thompson, who was the government's highest ranking black law enforcement official when he was deputy attorney general during Bush's first term.
Others mentioned less frequently include appeals court judges J. Michael Luttig, Edith Jones, Samuel Alito, Michael McConnell and Consuelo Callahan.
Callahan, like Gonzales, is Hispanic. There has never been a Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
I don't think you read closely. His opinions show that he knows the proper role of a judge, that he stays out of areas properly left to the executive and legislative branches, but that he will not condone efforts by those branches to exceed their constitutional authority.
In that is a philosophy. And it works for me.
That is not what I think of as philosophy. There is no doubt the man is strong defender and practitioner of judicial restraint.
Like I said, I expect him to be a good, solid judge. But not of the Scalia/Thomas mode.
LOL !
"There is no doubt the man is strong defender and practitioner of judicial restraint."
See, to me that implies that he will not rule like Ginsburg, Souter, et al, because he knows his proper role. That's the core of the philosophy we hold dear.
"But not of the Scalia/Thomas mode."
There was no reason to know that Thomas would be of the Scalia/Thomas mode. But he turned out to be. I believe Roberts will as well.
Well said.
Callahan, like Gonzales, is Hispanic. There has never been a Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
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This "reporter" perhaps should have check up on Justice Cardozo before trying this on us.
>> He was returning to the White House Sunday to attend the Red Mass, a service for those in the legal profession. <<
Lessee how many others find it obvious that the mass would be called the Red Mass.
Ha! awesome post!
I'm thinking that Brown would be the favorite of freepers! Just a hunch!
"There was no reason to know that Thomas would be of the Scalia/Thomas mode."
You just have to wonder....I wonder if Thomas' philosophy sort of crystalized during his confirmation hearing? Wouldn't it be just all to awesome to figure out that he would have been a big time moderate, had they just let him sail through, but since they treated him like crap, he is still giving payback to the left? Ha.
This is not all that implausible. Remember he was a big Danforth staffer. I doubt if ultra RINO Danforth would have been quite as supportive of another Scalia.
Janice Rogers Brown, you say. :)
Good points. I'd like to think that the libs brought him on themselves!
Are any of them even moderately pro-life?
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