Posted on Tue, Jul. 12, 2005
Bush solicits Supreme Court advice
DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Aiming to demonstrate an openness to all views, President Bush sought the advice of Democratic as well as Republican senators on Tuesday about whom to pick to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. He also got a little unsolicited advice from his wife.
Over breakfast at the White House, two key lawmakers urged Bush to consider nominating someone other than a judge. Democrats floated the names of three Hispanic judges, but advocates on both the right and left said they might be too moderate for the president's liking.
Bush even heard - all the way from South Africa - from Laura Bush, who said she'd like to see him replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with a woman.
Through it all, Bush gave no clues about whom he might be considering.
"Closer than I was yesterday" was all he would say about how near he was to making his first pick for the nation's high court.
His White House meeting was attended by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn; Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat on the committee. Vice President Dick Cheney and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card also attended.
Reid told Bush he wanted the president to share the names of his candidates so senators could evaluate them.
The Democrat said he didn't want to "wake up in the morning and see a name in the paper." The president's process of consultation should continue, he said.
"If the president sends us a consensus nominee, the Senate will confirm them easily," Reid said. "If he sends us a divisive nominee, we will use all procedural tools at our disposal to protect the American people."
The meeting was intended to reinforce White House contentions that Bush was consulting widely in filling the first Supreme Court vacancy in 11 years. Democrats have complained bitterly for years that Bush has ignored their views on lower-court judicial nominations. The White House said it has solicited the views of more than 60 senators.
"Senator Frist came to the Senate floor and said it is unprecedented what the president has done," Reid said about the consultation. "That is a bunch of flimflam," he said, adding that presidents have often consulted with leading senators about Supreme Court nominees.
Officials said Reid signaled that several of the contenders supported by conservatives could trigger a confirmation battle. The Nevada Democrat did not mention names, but among those backed by conservatives are federal appellate judges J. Michael Luttig, Michael McConnell, John Roberts Jr., Samuel Alito and J. Harvie Wilkinson III.
Several officials familiar with the hour-long meeting said Democrats suggested Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Ed Prado of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Hinojosa, all Hispanics.
"The question is how seriously will the president take these or any other names suggested, and we don't know the answer to that," said Elliott Mincberg, legal director of the liberal advocacy group, The People for the American Way. Wendy Long, counsel for the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network, said the three Hispanic judges' judicial philosophy might not "meet the president's bedrock criterion of faithfulness to the Constitution."
Conservative groups also are leery of another Hispanic said to be a top contender, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is close to Bush but whose views on abortion and affirmative action have raised questions among them. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said he was trying to arrange a meeting with Gonzales this week to explore his judicial philosophy.
Specter and Leahy said they told Bush he should consider naming someone who has not worn a judicial robe. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, for example, was a Justice Department official when he was selected.
"If they had a little more practical experience and didn't work so much within the footnotes and the semicolons, you might have a little different perspective, and I'd like to see that added to the court," Specter said."
Leahy, who gave a jar of Vermont maple syrup as a belated birthday gift to Bush, who turned 59 on July 6, agreed.
"I've talked, as each of us has, with a number of the current justices," Leahy said. "I know they see a number of benefits that could come to having somebody from outside the judicial monastery." Despite the consultations, the White House indicated the only thing that mattered was what the president thought.
"People are welcome to express their views ... but it's the president's constitutional responsibility to make that selection," spokesman Scott McClellan said. "And I don't think any individual should have veto power over that selection process."
In contrast to last week, little was said about rumors that Rehnquist, who is battling cancer, would step down, too
I hope Bush is just BSing
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Originally Posted by Gawain of Orkeny
But we never do. 
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