President Bush shows his arrogance again. He not only declines the Dems' reasonable request to caucus on Supreme Court replacement nominees, he nominates Ex-Starr Aide Brent Kavanaugh for a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

This is the same appeals court for which he nominated Miguel Estrada. Kavanaugh co-authored Starr's report on former President Clinton.

Kavanaugh's nomination would suggest Bush is spoiling for a fight with Senate Democrats while the administration's selection of judges is already a raw issue between the parties. The D.C. Circuit court is considered the second most powerful in the land. Kavanaugh, 38, was involved in many of the Clinton administration's legal controversies, and has played a key role in choosing Bush's judicial nominees.

Kavanugh is a partner at Kirk and Ellis, the same firm as Starr. And consider this: There have been two vacancies on that court since Clinton was President. "Republicans blocked Clinton from filling at least one of them by arguing that additional judges were not needed."

[thanks to Steve Smith of Smythe's Blog for the link]