SO...the NYT thinks Bush will replace Rehnquist with GONZALES.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/politics/politicsspecial1/04cnd-candidates.html

Speculation Grows About Minority or Woman Nominee

By NEIL A. LEWIS
Published: September 4, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - With a second vacancy to fill on the Supreme Court, President Bush is much more likely to turn to a Hispanic candidate like Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales or another minority lawyer or a woman to be his nominee, Republicans and former White House officials said today.

When Mr. Bush was preparing for a possible vacancy last spring, White House officials put together a list of nearly a dozen potential candidates. The list included several sitting federal appeals court judges, all of whom could be described as conservative, although each would have brought a different political and philosophical profile to the confirmation process.

The list also included Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Bush's longtime confidant from his days as governor of Texas and White House counsel during his first term as president. A Gonzales appointment would give Mr. Bush the distinction of naming the first Hispanic justice on the court. When the White House was surprised that the vacancy was created by the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor rather than that of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, senior political advisers rushed to include some additional women as candidates.

In the end, Mr. Bush chose Judge John G. Roberts Jr. of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and whose confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee were scheduled to begin Tuesday. The selection of Mr. Roberts, who is white, increases the pressure and incentive for the president to choose a minority candidate or woman, the former White House officials said, as did Democratic and Republican congressional officials.

[deadparrot]

1. Somehow I doubt it.

Gonzales is a nutcase, but nutcase enough for a SCOTUS appointment? I just don't know...

[terrya]

2. Gonzalez in the vacancy, Scalia nominated as Chief Justice,

That's how I see it.

[punpirate]

3. Of course, if Bush were as stupid as most of us think...

... he is, he could nominate Gonzales for Chief Justice, so we could watch Scalia get a twenty-year case of ass rash.... :)

[CityDem]

4. I doubt it

The torture memos will be a big problem for Alberto and Bushco does not need that kind of problem at this time. Plus, some other poor bastard would have to be confirmed as AG, which will not be too pleasant in the aftermath of Katrina.