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Who Would Dems Like to See on Supreme Court?

In June, 2003, we wrote about New York Senator Charles Schumer's letter to President Bush suggesting recommended replacements for any retiring Court Justices:

New York Senator Charles Schumer is pushing Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Spector for a seat on the Supreme Court.

Schumer's suggested list of five candidates includes Specter and Michael Mukasey, a Ronald Reagan appointee now serving as chief judge of the federal court in Manhattan. He also recommends judges Anne Williams, Edward Prado and Stanley Marcus, all current federal appeals court judges nominated by Republican presidents.

Schumer's effort to block the nominations of lawyer Miguel Estrada and Texas Supreme Court Judge Priscilla Owen has angered Republicans, who have suggested redrafting Senate rules to prevent filibusters of judicial nominees. Here is the full text of Schumer's letter to President Bush. [links via How Appealing]

[hat tip Jim Lindgren at Volokh who reminds us of Schumer's letter today.]

After Specter's non-warning to Bush last week about appointing ideologues on the abortion issue, I'd say Specter has no chance. Jim thinks it will be Alberto Gonzales, as has been rumored for over a year. If I had to back someone on that short list, it would be Edward Prado of Texas hands-down, a Bush 5th Circuit nominee unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

Jim is not alone in predicting that Bush will select Alberto Gonzales. As we wrote in December, 2002, in a plea for readers not to back a third party candidate, the New York Times reported:

In almost all of the possibilities, officials said, Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel and a longtime legal adviser to Mr. Bush from Texas, would be a candidate. Mr. Gonzales would be the first Hispanic member of the Supreme Court. Mr. Bush's top aides, notably Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, are described as keenly aware that this would provide a political bonus for both him and the Republican Party, which has been aggressively courting Hispanic voters.

"I don't think there's any question the president would turn to him," said a senior administration official who knew details of the informal but high-level discussions.

Other possibilities mentioned by the Times back then: Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, the chief judge of the very conservative 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., and Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., a federal appeals court judge in Newark, who used to clerk for Scalia and is referred to as "Scalito." Still others: Judge Michael Luttig and Judge Edith Jones.

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