Women, Minorities Top Bush's Supreme Court Short List

[sabra]

Source: ABC News

The White House is developing a short list of possible Supreme Court nominees so President Bush can move swiftly if a justice retires at the end of June, when the Court breaks for its summer recess, according to sources involved in the selection process.

Bush met with top advisers last month, and they discussed possible nominees if a Supreme Court vacancy occurs.

He told White House Counsel Fred Fielding and other administration lawyers that he wanted to nominate a woman or a minority to the Court, and his legal team has narrowed its focus to a half-dozen contenders, sources said.

Bush Prepares for Potentially Historic Choice

Most of the potential nominees have been well-vetted by the White House, which conducted extensive background checks and interviews in 2005, when it was searching for replacements for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The White House is not expecting a retirement, but it wants to be ready if a surprise announcement occurs, sources said.


Read more: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/SupremeCourt/story?id=3235598&page=1

[napi21]

1. OH DEAR GOD! Please don't let anyone retire, or if it has to be someone,

PLEASE make it be Scalia, Thomas, Alito or Roberts!!!!!

[Lobster Martini]

4. If you're going to pray, pray for the health of John Paul Stevens.

As much as I would like to see Clarence Thomas take his AARP card, go home, and spend the rest of his days eating tuna sandwiches and Jell-O, watching "Jeopardy," and forgetting to formulate the answer as a question, Stevens and Ginsburg are more likely to go first. Pray that they survive until a Democrat is elected President.

[Lobster Martini]

2. Critical sentence...

"Most of the potential nominees have been well-vetted by the White House, which conducted extensive background checks and interviews in 2005, when it was searching for replacements for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor."

Which means that the next SCOTUS nominee will be someone they thought wasn't as good a candidate as Alito. Talk about trying to pull water out of a dry well...at least this time we can be fairly certain that the minority nominee won't be Amnesia Gonzales.

[Lerkfish]

3. note to SCOTUS justices: stay out of small planes

[DU9598]

5. Not going to happen

The Democrats are in the position from here on out to simply require lots and lots of investigation time and thus run out the clock on any additional judicial nominees to the Supreme Court. Plus, another 4-5 months and they can effectively stop all additional court of appeal and district court nominations from moving forward.

Then, it is up to us ...

[napi21]

6. I hope you're right, but ya gotta worry about them damn recess appointments!

I don't trust Shrub AT ALL!!!! Do you honestly think he wouldn't try that???

[Hekate]

7. Somehow I don't think that would work for the SCOTUS.But pray no one needs to retire.

I think the remaining decent jurists will want to hang on until Bush is gone -- I simply hope none of them find compelling health or family reasons to leave. I think Sandra Day O'Connor would have stayed on if her husband had not been ill.

Hekate