Court Speculation...
Here is a prediction by Quin over at Confirm Them as to the nominees and the order. Only time will tell...
"Two weeks ago, I predicted the order of nominees would be Priscilla Owen, then John Roberts (for Rehnquist), then Gonzales. I still stand by that prediction — even though Joy Clement remains VERY much in the running, or at least was in the running still late last week. The president personally has asked top Louisiana politicians about Clement, supposedly, and his college roommate is a big booster of hers, supposedly. But here’s why I’m predicting Owen and then Roberts and then Gonzo: Bush prizes personal loyalty and also puts high value on having a personal sense of somebody’s character (sometimes he’s wrong, as with Putin). And there’s this quote in an AP story this morning: “I’ve got some people, perhaps in contention, that I’ve already spent time with, that I know. In other words, I’m familiar with some people that are being speculated about in the press. And so I don’t need to interview those.” To my knowledge, there are only four short-listers who he knows well personally: Owen, Gonzales, Cornyn, and Roberts. (Roberts, apparently, is known to W through Roberts’ work in the Bush 41 administration, for which W was the omni-present, unpaid, highly involved enforcer for his father.) Unlike Pryor and J.R. Brown, Owen did quite well on her final cloture vote, and she received, I believe, 58 votes for confirmation. She was endorsed for the 5th Circuit even by the Wash Post. She puts the Dems on the spot on the filibuster, but probably will (barely) avoid one — and if the Dems DO try to filibuster, I guarantee that McCain, Graham, DeWine and probably Warner and Specter WILL use the constitutional option on her behalf. In short, she is confirmable — and she’s a personal friend of the Bushes, and very very bright.
So she gets on. Then Rehnquist, satisfied, retires — and Bush rewards him by picking his former clerk, Roberts, who Bush knows and likes, and who is supprters even by Seth Waxman.
I’d still pick Alito, by the way, but I don’t get to pick."
"Two weeks ago, I predicted the order of nominees would be Priscilla Owen, then John Roberts (for Rehnquist), then Gonzales. I still stand by that prediction — even though Joy Clement remains VERY much in the running, or at least was in the running still late last week. The president personally has asked top Louisiana politicians about Clement, supposedly, and his college roommate is a big booster of hers, supposedly. But here’s why I’m predicting Owen and then Roberts and then Gonzo: Bush prizes personal loyalty and also puts high value on having a personal sense of somebody’s character (sometimes he’s wrong, as with Putin). And there’s this quote in an AP story this morning: “I’ve got some people, perhaps in contention, that I’ve already spent time with, that I know. In other words, I’m familiar with some people that are being speculated about in the press. And so I don’t need to interview those.” To my knowledge, there are only four short-listers who he knows well personally: Owen, Gonzales, Cornyn, and Roberts. (Roberts, apparently, is known to W through Roberts’ work in the Bush 41 administration, for which W was the omni-present, unpaid, highly involved enforcer for his father.) Unlike Pryor and J.R. Brown, Owen did quite well on her final cloture vote, and she received, I believe, 58 votes for confirmation. She was endorsed for the 5th Circuit even by the Wash Post. She puts the Dems on the spot on the filibuster, but probably will (barely) avoid one — and if the Dems DO try to filibuster, I guarantee that McCain, Graham, DeWine and probably Warner and Specter WILL use the constitutional option on her behalf. In short, she is confirmable — and she’s a personal friend of the Bushes, and very very bright.
So she gets on. Then Rehnquist, satisfied, retires — and Bush rewards him by picking his former clerk, Roberts, who Bush knows and likes, and who is supprters even by Seth Waxman.
I’d still pick Alito, by the way, but I don’t get to pick."
posted by Lil' Mermaid | 5:35 PM
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