It's Been Real, Harriet
Julian Sanchez | October 27, 2005, 8:58am
The news channels are reporting that Bush has "reluctantly" accepted Harriet Miers' request to withdraw her nomination. Looks like they're using as cover the combination of the White House's refusal to hand over internal documents and the (frankly rather serious) issue of how often Miers would have to recuse herself from hearing cases about policy she'd had a hand in forming. Which may be a sign that, unlike Trent Lott, the White House does read blogs, since that's more or less the exit strategy the conservative blogs have been pitching. Seeya H.
Addendum: The narrative emerging seems to be that this was, above all, about Miers' failure to meet the right's litmus tests—in particular, uncertainty about whether she'd overturn Roe. But that just doesn't make sense in a lot of ways. For one, the widely loved (on the right) Roberts doesn't seem to have been any more of a sure thing on that front—certainly not after he described Roe as a "settled precedent" that is "entitled to respect." Is it that hard to buy that this really was, at least in significant part, about her thin resumé? Heaven forfend we should concede that not everything is explicable through the lens of horse-race outcome-oriented politics, that some people actually have a principled commitment to a competent Court.
Marty | October 27, 2005, 11:22am | #
With John Roberts confirmed as the next chief justice and the withdrawal of Harriet Miers's nomination to succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the focus is again on President Bush. Here are potential nominees.
Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Born 1950 in Trenton, N.J. Graduate of Princeton and Yale Law School. Was assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey before becoming assistant solicitor general in 1981 and deputy solicitor general in 1985. Returned to New Jersey as U.S. attorney in 1987. Nominated by George H.W. Bush and confirmed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1990. Known among conservatives as a strict constructionist in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. Abortion-rights activists point to his dissent in the 1991 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey -- in which he argued to uphold a Pennsylvania law requiring a married woman to inform her husband before getting an abortion -- as putting him in the anti-Roe v. Wade camp.
Alice M. Batchelder
Born 1944 in Wilmington, Del. Graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and law schools at University of Akron and University of Virginia. A former teacher turned private-practice lawyer with a long career on the bench that has included a stint as a bankruptcy-court judge, district court judge in Ohio and nomination by the first President Bush and Senate confirmation to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991. Her decision to uphold an Ohio ban on so-called partial-birth abortions in 2003 is likely to draw tough scrutiny from liberals.
Janice Rogers Brown
Born in 1949 in Greenville, Ala., and attended segregated schools as a child. Graduate of California State University and University of California law school. Served as associate justice on the California Third District Appeals Court from 1994 to 1996, and was then elevated to the California Supreme Court. After fierce resistance by Senate Democrats, she was recently confirmed to become a judge on the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia, as a result of a deal between moderate Democrats and Republicans. The opposition reflected her staunch conservatism. At her nomination hearing, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary committee, called her an "agenda-driven judge whose respect for precedent and rules ... changing depending on the subject matter."
Consuelo M. Callahan
Born 1950 in Palo Alto, Calif. Graduate of Stanford University and McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Career California prosecutor who once specialized in trying child abuse and sexual assault cases. Raised to the bench as a Superior Court judge of San Joaquin County in 1992, then the state Third District Appeals Court in 1996. Nominated by President Bush and confirmed unanimously by the Senate to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003. She is a conservative Hispanic with tough-on-crime credentials, but her positions on abortion and other social hot-button issues remain unknown.
Edith Clement
Born in Birmingham in 1948. Received her bachelor's from the University of Alabama and her law degree from Tulane. She worked in private practice, specializing in maritime law, in New Orleans from 1975 to 1991, when President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the U.S. court for Louisiana's eastern district. She served until 2001, as chief judge in the final year, before being nominated by the second President Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She has drawn less criticism than some of the other potential nominees but has also been less in the public eye.
John Cornyn
Born 1952 in Houston. Graduate of Trinity University and St. Mary's School of Law, in San Antonio. Received a master's of law degree from the University of Virginia law school in 1995. He spent six years as a district court judge in San Antonio before joining the Texas Supreme Court in 1990. He held that position for seven years, and served as Texas attorney general from 1999 to 2002, when he succeeded Phil Gramm as Republican U.S. senator from Texas. He is a member of the judiciary, armed services, budget, small business and entrepreneurship committees, and serves as deputy whip.
Emilio M. Garza
Born 1947 in San Antonio. Graduate of Notre Dame and University of Texas law school. Served in the Marine Corps from 1970 to 1973. Was a corporate litigator before being nominated by President Reagan and confirmed to a federal district court in Texas in 1988. Elevated by George H.W. Bush and confirmed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991. Is on record as saying Roe v. Wade lacks a constitutional basis and that states should have the right to limit abortion.
Alberto R. Gonzales
Born 1955 in San Antonio, Texas. Raised in Houston, the second of eight children of an immigrant family. Served in the Air Force from 1973 to 1975. Attended USAF Academy, transferring in 1977 to Rice University and graduating in 1979. Earned Harvard law degree in 1982. Joined Houston firm Vinson & Elkins in 1982. Named general counsel to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 1994, becoming Texas secretary of state in 1997. He was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in 1999. Became White House Counsel to President Bush in 2001. Nominated and confirmed as U.S. attorney general in 2005. He has often been cited as an attractive first Hispanic justice to the high court. However, his Senate confirmation battle was heated, focusing on a 2002 memo in which he called aspects of the Geneva Conventions "quaint." Also, many hard-line conservatives worry his judicial leanings are too moderate.
Edith Hollan Jones
Born in 1949 in Philadelphia. Graduate of Cornell University and University of Texas law school. Worked in private practice in Houston from 1974 to 1985 and in that year was nominated by President Reagan to a newly created seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and confirmed by the Senate. Observers have said Justice O'Connor's retirement might prompt President Bush to nominate a woman as her replacement; Justice O'Connor was the first woman on the Supreme Court and was joined later by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Judge Hollan Jones was said to have been on the previous President Bush's list for potential Supreme Court appointments. Social conservatives are comfortable with Judge Jones, who in 1993 upheld a Mississippi law that prohibits certain minors from obtaining abortions without the consent of both parents.
Jon Kyl
Born in Oakland, Neb. Received bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Arizona, and practiced law in Phoenix before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republican served four terms in the House and in 1994 was elected to the Senate. He was re-elected in 2000. Serves on the finance and judiciary committees, and is chairman of the Senate's Republican policy committee. Known as a reliable conservative, he has been active in the areas of victims' rights, national parks and border security.
J. Michael Luttig
Born 1954 in Tyler, Texas. Graduate of Washington and Lee University and University of Virginia law school. Was assistant counsel to the Reagan White House. Clerked for Justice Scalia when he was a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Clerked for U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger from 1983 to 1984. Was nominated by George H.W. Bush and confirmed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991. Has close ties to several high-court justices, both conservative and liberal. A supporter of the death penalty -- even before his father's murder in a 1994 carjacking. Has penned several opinions considered anti-abortion, including one reversing a lower-court decision against a Virginia ban on so-called partial-birth abortion and another that backed the state's law to require parental notification in teen abortions.
Michael W. McConnell
Born 1955 in Louisville, Ky. Graduate of Michigan State and University of Chicago law school. Clerked for Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan from 1980 to 1981. Was assistant general counsel to the Office of Management and Budget from 1981 to 1983 and assistant to the solicitor general from 1983 to 1985. Taught at Chicago Law School from 1985 to 1996 and has been teaching at University of Utah law school since 1997. Nominated by President Bush in 2001 and confirmed in 2002 to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Known as a brilliant conservative scholar of constitutional law who has openly supported overturning of Roe v. Wade or limiting its reach.
Theodore B. Olson
Born 1940, in Chicago. Graduate of University of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif., and University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. Was an assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration. As partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, he argued numerous cases before the high court. Represented George W. Bush against Al Gore in disputed 2000 election. Nominated by President Bush and confirmed as U.S. solicitor general in 2001. His wife, Barbara, died Sept. 11, 2001, in the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon. He resigned in 2004 to return to private practice. Comes with no bench experience or record but has lent his courtroom skills to traditional conservative causes, including overturning or limiting affirmative action.
Larry D. Thompson
Born 1945, in Hannibal, Mo. Graduate of Culver-Stockton College, Canton, Mo., and University of Michigan Law School. Was U.S. attorney in Georgia from 1982 to 1986. Served in the 1990s in an array of government roles, including independent counsel probing corruption in the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Reagan administration. Was a member of the Republican legal team in the contentious confirmation of then-nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991. Nominated by President Bush and confirmed as deputy attorney general in 2001 under John Ashcroft. Resigned in mid-2003 to return to private practice, and currently is general counsel to PepsiCo. Known for his antipathy to affirmative action, though is considered more moderate than long-time friend Justice Thomas. Conservatives cite him as an attractive choice to become the third black justice ever on the high court.
J. Harvie Wilkinson III
Born 1944 in New York City. Grew up in Richmond, Va. Graduate of Yale and the University of Virginia Law School. Ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the House of Representatives in 1970. Clerked for Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell from 1972 to 1973. His career has spanned many roles, including law professor at University of Virginia and deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the civil-rights division. Nominated by President Reagan and confirmed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1984. Known for his vigorous questioning during oral arguments. Key opinions include a ruling upholding President Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy concerning gays serving in the military and a 2002 opinion all but foreclosing judicial review of a citizen held as an enemy combatant. The Supreme Court vacated that opinion, ruling that both citizens and aliens held as enemy combatants may contest their detention in court.
Karen Williams
Born 1951 in Orangeburg, S.C. Graduate of Columbia and University of South Carolina Law Center. Was in private practice until nominated by the first President Bush and confirmed by the Senate to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1992. Most recently wrote the opinion upholding a Virginia law requiring public schools to lead a daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance that had been challenged by a father who objected to the phrase "under God" in the Pledge.
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