Daily Kos brings us the unsettling news reported on Political Wire that ultra-conservative Utah Senator Orin Hatch is seeking a Supreme Court nomination from President Bush. And that Bush is leaning towards appointing Clarence Thomas as Chief Justice. Taegan Goddard reports:

"Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orin Hatch ® "has been spreading the word" that "perhaps it's time his name should be sent to" his committee as the next Supreme Court nominee, the Washingtonian reports. "Hatch has surfaced in the past as a potential Supreme Court nominee. If anything works against him now, it will be his age -- 68." But his "renewed interest in the court has confounded judge pickers at the White House. They worry that if they choose someone else, the powerful chairman might not be helpful."

"There's more: "It now looks like Clarence Thomas, and not Antonin Scalia, would replace" Chief Justice William Rehnquist. "The juxtaposition of Thomas's breaking his usual silence to deliver an impassioned lecture against cross-burning and Senator Trent Lott's remarks on the virtues of the 1948 segregationist Dixiecrats was not lost on President Bush. He now believes that elevating Thomas would be the most dramatic way to return his party to being the party of Lincoln and not the party of Lott."

For more, go to the Washingtonian and scroll down the left-side column.

[Thanks to SK Bubba for noticing we mispelled "Court" in the title, it's fixed."