« A response. . . | Main | WOO HOO!!!! »

July 1, 2005

Start your engines. . .

It's being widely reported that Justice O'Connor is about to announce her retirement from the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). Wide speculation is that Bush will nominate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the vacancy.

So here we have a battle royale beginning. Democrats will be hard pressed to dig out more "dirt" on Gonzales since the dredging he received for the A.G. confirmation. Gonzales has enemies on the right though due to his decisions on abortion in Texas. A Gonzales appointment will be an ugly process. I'm not quite sure it's the best course for Bush to take at this time. I think Bush may want to wait on Gonzales' appointment to the SCOTUS until Renquist retires.

Also on Bush's short list is Appellate Court Judge Edith Brown Clement of New Orleans' Fifth Circuit. Clement would be a safer appointment for Bush, and wouldn't allow the left as much grandstanding as a Gonzales confirmation would. Clement was born and raised in Birmingham (plus for that), keeps the gender balance status quo and seems to be a strong conservative (two pluses there).

Clement is a graduate of the University of Alabama (Roll Tide) and received her law degree from Tulane (Go Green Wave), her career has been rooted firmly on the governments side of things, serving as:

Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey, 1977-1981
Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice, 1981-1985
Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, 1985-1987
U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, 1987-1990

Clement was nominated to the Appellate court by George H.W. Bush.

I'm currently looking for the hearing transcript from her Confirmation hearings and any floor debate on her nomination. If anyone has the GPO on Silverplatter and can access these documents. Please let me know.

More to come, I'm sure.

--Jason

UPDATE: While I was typing, the retirement rumor became fact (added link to FoxNews story.)

2ND UPDATE: The text of the Fifth Circuit Appointment Hearings are here.

Posted by JasonColeman at July 1, 2005 9:22 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.jasoncoleman.com/MT/mt-tb.cgi/68