Potential Supreme Court Nominees
The White House is busy researching potential Supreme Court replacements, in anticipation of a June retirement of Chief Justice Rehnquist who suffers from thyroid cancer. Some speculate he's already made his choice. Here is the list of those believed to be in the running.
I predict it's down to three choices:
- Former Solicitor General Ted Olson
- Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson
- 10th Circuit Judge Michael McConnell
Of the three, I hope he picks Larry Thompson, whom I know and trust, an opinion shared by many defense lawyers.
But I think Bush will pick Ted Olson, the arch conservative and his lawyer in the Supreme Court in the Bush v. Gore case. Olsen has very strong ties to Richard Mellon Scaife, and is a staunch member of the New Theocracy.
The Denver Post has this profile of Michael McConnell today. Since the Senate easily approved his confirmation to the 10th Circuit, it might be hard for them to filibuster him now for the Supreme Court.
We're going to get a conservative on the Court no matter what, but there's no reason for it to be an extremist like Ted Olson.
Update: FourthAmendment.com writes:
A cynic might say that the White House has already been told to expect it to get the new Chief confirmed by the beginning of the next Term. I say expect two, under the assumption that the new Chief will come from within the Court, and it won't be Kennedy since he was in the majority on Lawrence v. Texas which angered conservatives. Having a conscience can cost one prestigious appointments, but earns one a place in history. Now if he only had the same guts in Bush v. Gore....
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