[livius]

Encouraging! I'm glad serious thought is being given to good Supreme Court nominees.

[Psalm 73]

Not that it matters, the Demoncrats would smear Gandhi and Mother Theresa (or thier own mothers, for that matter), if they had to.

[VA Advogado]

Such moves have won Gonzales support among conservative Republicans such as Orrin Hatch of Utah, the GOP's ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Gonzales would need his backing to ascend to the high court.

Ha. Orrin Hatch a conservative? I think not.

[blackbag]

[goldstategop]

It won't matter. If the Rats get a whiff he's a conservative he won't be on the U.S Supreme Court. They fired the shot across the bow in l'affair Charles W. Pickering and they hope President Bush heard the message.

[FairWitness]

One of Gonzales' most controversial actions in that post was helping to get George W. Bush excused from jury duty in 1996, a situation that could have required the governor to disclose his then-secret 1976 conviction for drunken driving in Maine. Gonzales suggested to the judge and defense lawyer that if Bush served, he would not, as governor, be able to pardon the defendant in the future.

I remember this being touted as a "scandal", to hide GWB's past. My question is - How many sitting governors have ever sat on jury duty? Sounds like a clear conflict of interest to me, just as Judge Gonzales ruled.

[Steve0113]

Liberal justice John Paul Stevens...

That's an oxymoron.

[helmsman]

Wait a minute, isn't Speedy the one who voted to allow a minor to have an abortion without the consent of her parents while he served on the Texas Supreme Court? Everybody knows that Bush is pro-life, because he says so. Therefore, the story cannot be true.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Interesting how often USA Today uses the "conservative" label to describe people and policies in this article. Think they used the term "liberal" as often in the corresponding article about Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she was under consideration by Clinton?

[Sloth]

No more baby-killers on SCOTUS, please.

[rightwing2]

Some Republicans initially feared that Gonzales might be a "stealth liberal" like David Souter, who was named to the Supreme Court 12 years ago by Bush's father. To the dismay of many Republicans, Souter, 62, has become one of the four liberal justices on the nine-member court.

This guy is no moderate! Gonzales is a scary pro-abortion liberal as may be witnessed by his judicial decisions while on the Texas Supreme Court which included torpedoing even the tepid parental notification bill championed by then Governor George W. Bush. Gonzales is the Latino David Souter and would be a disaster for this country and the pro-life cause! Of course, he is doing his best to try to obscure his liberal positions on social issues and endear himself to GOP moderates and moderate conservatives in the Senate who would be key to supporting his nomination by Bush for the next Supreme Court vacancy. His nomination as a Supreme Court judicial nominee would be just one more BigTime Bush Administration disappointing betrayal of pro-life conservatives.

[Gritty]

... Gonzales was admitted in 1975 but left the (Air Force) academy for Rice in 1977...

This one made me sit up and say,.... Hmmmmm!

It is unusual for cadets to leave after their first year for reasons other than academic failure or perhaps an Honor Code violation. Neither was specified, except he "left for another challenge". Although this is not impossible, IMHO it is not very likely, especially as he was an Air Force enlisted man prior to his acceptance in the Academy and would probably want to finish what he had started and worked so hard to achieve. He certainly knew what the Air Force was all about when entered the Academy.

What is his real reason for leaving? If it were an Honor Code violation, be sure the Democrats will find out about it and crucify him for it when the time comes.

[Dan from Michigan]

I can name four EXCELLENT judges for SCOTUS.

Maura Corrigan, Stephen Markman, Robert Young, and Cliff Taylor. 4 Michigan Supreme Court judges.

[denydenydeny]

The thing that comes to my mind is the Hispanic aspect.

The Democrats know that there will be a big-time political price to pay for a nationally-televised Pickering-style humiliation of the first Hispanic Supreme Court nominee in history by ten rich white people.

The race card works against the Democrats here.

[ez]

In Washington, Gonzales' close-to-the-vest manner hasn't always played well, particularly among Democrats who are pressing the administration for a more ideologically diverse roster of nominees for federal courts.

And so it goes...

Conservatives should field a "diverse" roster of nominees while liberals should be free to choose the most leftist, activist judges they can find.

[Consort]

Starting with Pickering, the administration should make it clear that any nominee who is not given a full Senate vote will be recessed appointed at the earliest date. This policy can begin during the upcoming Easter Recess.