Who will fill the Supreme Court vacancies?

**Ninong** · 07-07-2005, 07:32 PM

I wonder which two people the President will nominate for the Supreme Court and who will be nominated to be Chief Justice?

I think he will nominate Alberto Gonzales plus someone more conservative than Gonzales to fill the vacancies created by Sandra Day O'Connor and William Rehnquist. I'm not sure if he will nominate Scalia for Chief Justice or name one of the new appointees to that post.

I doubt that he would name anyone else on the court other than Scalia. Clarence Thomas would be subjected to a very contentious confirmation fight. Scalia may be too divisive to make a good Chief Justice but he fits the President's stated ideal qualifications and naming him as the new Chief Justice plus another very conservative judge as a new nominee would permit him to slip Alberto Gonzales past the right-wing theocrats. It would be sort of a package deal.

I will go out on a limb and predict that it will be Gonzales plus a female judge for the two vacancies and Scalia as the new Chief Justice. A real wild card possibility would be Gonzales for Chief Justice! Remember that Gonzales and Bush go back a long way. He was Bush's personal attorney before Bush became governor of Texas. Bush appointed him to the Texas Supreme Court.

What do you think?

P.S. -- I forgot to say that I think Rehnquist will resign tomorrow morning so that the two vacancies will be open when the President returns from the G8 meeting.

**schrocat** · 07-08-2005, 07:27 AM

These guys are constantly overturning the will of Congress and creating their own laws!!!!!!
It's sickening!!!!!

Here they are in order of appearance...

"We found that justices vary widely in their inclination to strike down Congressional laws. Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, was the most inclined, voting to invalidate 65.63 percent of those laws; Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed by President Bill Clinton, was the least, voting to invalidate 28.13 percent. The tally for all the justices appears below."

Thomas 65.63 %
Kennedy 64.06 %
Scalia 56.25 %
Rehnquist 46.88 %
O’Connor 46.77 %
Souter 42.19 %
Stevens 39.34 %
Ginsburg 39.06 %
Breyer 28.13 %

My only hope is that Bush puts someone on the bench who doesn't legislate from the bench and overturn Congress as much as those top four justices.

**Ninong** · 07-08-2005, 08:44 AM

Besides Alberto Gonzales, who else will be nominated to the Supreme Court? Will it be someone acceptable to the religious right? Will that appease them enough to shut up with all the anti-Gonzales rhetoric?

I don't think Gonzales will vote to overturn Roe. I think he will prove to be just slightly more conservative than O'Connor, at least for the remainder of Bush's term. After that, who knows? Will he turn into another Clarence Thomas (unlikely) or another David Souter? What if he turns into another John Paul Stevens? Or another Earl Warren? John Paul Stevens and Earl Warren were both Republican appointees whose decisions on the court probably came as a surprise to the Republican Party.

Penguin · 07-08-2005, 12:53 PM

I'm not so sure Gonzales is a shoo-in to be nominated. The President might not want to disrupt operations in the Dept. of Justice by taking away Gonzales. Just a hunch. As for who else he might nominate I have absolutely no idea.

**Ninong** · 07-08-2005, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Penguin

I'm not so sure Gonzales is a shoo-in to be nominated. The President might not want to disrupt operations in the Dept. of Justice by taking away Gonzales. Just a hunch. As for who else he might nominate I have absolutely no idea.

I agree with you but I still have a hunch that he will name Gonzales now because it's something that he wants to do eventually and it's possible he won't get another opportunity.

**Ninong** · 07-08-2005, 03:56 PM

Rehnquist hasn't resigned yet. Maybe he's waiting for Bush's plane to land (5 p.m. ET) so that he can tender his resignation in person to the President.

**Ninong** · 07-11-2005, 11:56 AM

Rehnquist: Still not retired.

**schrocat** · 07-11-2005, 01:16 PM

Ninong,

I'm putting 10 bucks on Ted Olsen.

**schrocat** · 07-11-2005, 01:52 PM

But Kurt Vonnegut's bid for Judge Judy was slick...

2nd article...

**Ninong** · 07-12-2005, 11:04 AM

Rehnquist: Nope, not yet.

Alberto Gonzales: Still not a nominee.

**Ninong** · 07-13-2005, 01:22 PM

Rehnquist: Not yet. (P.S. -- Right now he's in an Arlington, VA hospital. He was admitted last night with a fever.)

Alberto Gonazles: Still making the rounds "interviewing" with various conservative groups who are less than enthusiastic about his possible nomination.

The President: Still seeking the 'advice and consent' of the Senate plus influential persons outside of the Congress:

"Someone from the White House called me yesterday, asking for any input I might have," said the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the founder of the Moral Majority and chancellor of Liberty University in Virginia. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/po...l?pagewanted=2

**Ninong** · 07-14-2005, 09:39 PM

Rehnquist: “I am not about to announce my retirement. I will continue to perform my duties as chief justice as long as my health permits.”

Alberto Gonzales: His chances are probably better if there are two vacancies to fill but I think he's still in the running.

All those Senate aides who insisted that they had been alerted to be prepared for a Rehnquist resignation announcement between 10-11 a.m. Friday, July 8th., will now have to try to figure out if they were misled or if the Chief Justice simply changed his mind.

**Ninong** · 07-15-2005, 01:55 PM

**Ninong** · 10-03-2005, 09:54 AM

Bush nominates Harriet Miers: http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/03/sc...iew/index.html

Interesting move. You can read just about anything into the motivation for this nomination:

The President carefully reviewed the qualifications of all the potential candidates and determined that she was the most qualified person.

The President talked to Alberto Gonzales and Gonzales told him that he wasn't interested, so the President chose the person who introduced him to Gonzales way back when.

The President wanted to stick it to the Left and decided that Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen both had extensive records that could become the basis for a filibuster, therefore he chose a woman with no record. This makes it much more difficult for the Democrats.

The President wanted to divert attention from the pending Plame Game revelations and chose Miers after Tom DeLay declined the nomination.

It looks like the road to success in this administration is getting yourself named as the head of the search committee to choose a candidate for the job you really want for yourself.

**Ninong** · 10-03-2005, 10:08 AM

Hey, this nomination may be even more controversial than I thought. Looks like some of the right-wing Republicans are not at all pleased with it.

**Ninong** · 10-03-2005, 10:46 AM

Here's something I just dug up. I remembered the fact that Alberto Gonzales is the one who "arranged" to get Bush out of jury duty but I didn't know that Harriet Miers was the one who actually introduced Gonzales to Bush way back when:

Miers also introduced Bush to Alberto Gonzales, who served as Bush's counsel in Austin and later in Washington, before being named U.S. attorney general.

During Bush's first term as governor, Gonzales used information turned up by Miers to persuade a local judge to excuse Bush from jury duty, a civic task that would have forced him to disclose his 1976 arrest for drunken driving in Maine. The incident was not divulged until the waning days of Bush's 2000 campaign for the White House.

**Ninong** · 10-03-2005, 11:02 AM

Guess who Harriet Miers supported for president in 1988 with a $1,000 campaign contribution?

Answer: http://tray.com/docs/gore1988.pdf (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

P.S. -- She did NOT give anything to the guy who ended up being elected in 1988. In addition to the $1000 to Gore, she also contributed $1000 to the DNC in 1988.

P.P.S. -- Word is that Harry Reid warned Bush that both Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen would be filibustered but that someone like Harriet Miers would be a reasonable alternative worthy of consideration.

**schrocat** · 10-03-2005, 11:21 AM

Oh my...

Grab that robe and "Suit her" up!

**Ninong** · 10-03-2005, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schrocat

Oh my...

Grab that robe and "Suit her" up!

She has given to Republican candidates over the years but she didn't give anything to Poppy Bush. She hasn't contributed to any Democrats since 1988. She not only contributed to Bush the Younger's campaigns in 2000 and 2004, she even said that he was one of the most brilliant men she had ever met. You can read that any way you like.

**Ninong** · 10-03-2005, 11:49 AM

They are even less enthusiastic about Harriet Miers than they were about the idea of Alberto Gonzales being nominated.

Think Progress has sampled the wingnuts and complied their comments:

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/10/03/...ts-miers-hard/

07-07-2005, 07:32 PM	#1
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Who will fill the Supreme Court vacancies? I wonder which two people the President will nominate for the Supreme Court and who will be nominated to be Chief Justice? I think he will nominate Alberto Gonzales plus someone more conservative than Gonzales to fill the vacancies created by Sandra Day O'Connor and William Rehnquist. I'm not sure if he will nominate Scalia for Chief Justice or name one of the new appointees to that post. I doubt that he would name anyone else on the court other than Scalia. Clarence Thomas would be subjected to a very contentious confirmation fight. Scalia may be too divisive to make a good Chief Justice but he fits the President's stated ideal qualifications and naming him as the new Chief Justice plus another very conservative judge as a new nominee would permit him to slip Alberto Gonzales past the right-wing theocrats. It would be sort of a package deal. I will go out on a limb and predict that it will be Gonzales plus a female judge for the two vacancies and Scalia as the new Chief Justice. A real wild card possibility would be Gonzales for Chief Justice! Remember that Gonzales and Bush go back a long way. He was Bush's personal attorney before Bush became governor of Texas. Bush appointed him to the Texas Supreme Court. What do you think? P.S. -- I forgot to say that I think Rehnquist will resign tomorrow morning so that the two vacancies will be open when the President returns from the G8 meeting. __________________ Ninong

07-08-2005, 07:27 AM	#2
schrocat Moderator Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Hilliard , Fl. Posts: 3,381	I am sick and tired of these activist judges! These guys are constantly overturning the will of Congress and creating their own laws!!!!!! It's sickening!!!!! Here they are in order of appearance... "We found that justices vary widely in their inclination to strike down Congressional laws. Justice Clarence Thomas, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, was the most inclined, voting to invalidate 65.63 percent of those laws; Justice Stephen Breyer, appointed by President Bill Clinton, was the least, voting to invalidate 28.13 percent. The tally for all the justices appears below." Thomas 65.63 % Kennedy 64.06 % Scalia 56.25 % Rehnquist 46.88 % O’Connor 46.77 % Souter 42.19 % Stevens 39.34 % Ginsburg 39.06 % Breyer 28.13 % My only hope is that Bush puts someone on the bench who doesn't legislate from the bench and overturn Congress as much as those top four justices. __________________ "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric" -Justice John Marshall Harlan "Send Lawyers, Guns and Money." -WZ

07-08-2005, 08:44 AM	#3
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Who will he name? Besides Alberto Gonzales, who else will be nominated to the Supreme Court? Will it be someone acceptable to the religious right? Will that appease them enough to shut up with all the anti-Gonzales rhetoric? I don't think Gonzales will vote to overturn Roe. I think he will prove to be just slightly more conservative than O'Connor, at least for the remainder of Bush's term. After that, who knows? Will he turn into another Clarence Thomas (unlikely) or another David Souter? What if he turns into another John Paul Stevens? Or another Earl Warren? John Paul Stevens and Earl Warren were both Republican appointees whose decisions on the court probably came as a surprise to the Republican Party. __________________ Ninong

07-08-2005, 12:53 PM	#4
Penguin Polymath Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cherry Hill, NJ Posts: 526	I'm not so sure Gonzales is a shoo-in to be nominated. The President might not want to disrupt operations in the Dept. of Justice by taking away Gonzales. Just a hunch. As for who else he might nominate I have absolutely no idea. __________________ As a nation, you're faced with the choice of taking over the world or offering good eats at reasonable prices.

07-08-2005, 03:56 PM	#6
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Rehnquist hasn't resigned yet. Maybe he's waiting for Bush's plane to land (5 p.m. ET) so that he can tender his resignation in person to the President. __________________ Ninong

07-11-2005, 11:56 AM	#7
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Rehnquist: Still not retired. __________________ Ninong

07-11-2005, 01:16 PM	#8
schrocat Moderator Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Hilliard , Fl. Posts: 3,381	Ninong, I'm putting 10 bucks on Ted Olsen. __________________ "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric" -Justice John Marshall Harlan "Send Lawyers, Guns and Money." -WZ

07-11-2005, 01:52 PM	#9
schrocat Moderator Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Hilliard , Fl. Posts: 3,381	But Kurt Vonnegut's bid for Judge Judy was slick... 2nd article... __________________ "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric" -Justice John Marshall Harlan "Send Lawyers, Guns and Money." -WZ

07-12-2005, 11:04 AM	#10
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Rehnquist: Nope, not yet. Alberto Gonzales: Still not a nominee. __________________ Ninong

07-13-2005, 01:22 PM	#11
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Rehnquist: Not yet. (P.S. -- Right now he's in an Arlington, VA hospital. He was admitted last night with a fever.) Alberto Gonazles: Still making the rounds "interviewing" with various conservative groups who are less than enthusiastic about his possible nomination. The President: Still seeking the 'advice and consent' of the Senate plus influential persons outside of the Congress: "Someone from the White House called me yesterday, asking for any input I might have," said the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the founder of the Moral Majority and chancellor of Liberty University in Virginia. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/po...l?pagewanted=2 __________________ Ninong

07-14-2005, 09:39 PM	#12
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Rehnquist: “I am not about to announce my retirement. I will continue to perform my duties as chief justice as long as my health permits.” Alberto Gonzales: His chances are probably better if there are two vacancies to fill but I think he's still in the running. All those Senate aides who insisted that they had been alerted to be prepared for a Rehnquist resignation announcement between 10-11 a.m. Friday, July 8th., will now have to try to figure out if they were misled or if the Chief Justice simply changed his mind. __________________ Ninong

07-15-2005, 01:55 PM	#13
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	__________________ Ninong

10-03-2005, 09:54 AM	#14
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Bush nominates Harriet Miers: http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/03/sc...iew/index.html Interesting move. You can read just about anything into the motivation for this nomination: The President carefully reviewed the qualifications of all the potential candidates and determined that she was the most qualified person. The President talked to Alberto Gonzales and Gonzales told him that he wasn't interested, so the President chose the person who introduced him to Gonzales way back when. The President wanted to stick it to the Left and decided that Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen both had extensive records that could become the basis for a filibuster, therefore he chose a woman with no record. This makes it much more difficult for the Democrats. The President wanted to divert attention from the pending Plame Game revelations and chose Miers after Tom DeLay declined the nomination. It looks like the road to success in this administration is getting yourself named as the head of the search committee to choose a candidate for the job you really want for yourself. __________________ Ninong

10-03-2005, 10:08 AM	#15
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Hey, this nomination may be even more controversial than I thought. Looks like some of the right-wing Republicans are not at all pleased with it. __________________ Ninong

10-03-2005, 10:46 AM	#16
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Here's something I just dug up. I remembered the fact that Alberto Gonzales is the one who "arranged" to get Bush out of jury duty but I didn't know that Harriet Miers was the one who actually introduced Gonzales to Bush way back when: Miers also introduced Bush to Alberto Gonzales, who served as Bush's counsel in Austin and later in Washington, before being named U.S. attorney general. During Bush's first term as governor, Gonzales used information turned up by Miers to persuade a local judge to excuse Bush from jury duty, a civic task that would have forced him to disclose his 1976 arrest for drunken driving in Maine. The incident was not divulged until the waning days of Bush's 2000 campaign for the White House. __________________ Ninong

10-03-2005, 11:02 AM	#17
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Hey, Schrocat, this this out! Guess who Harriet Miers supported for president in 1988 with a $1,000 campaign contribution? Answer: http://tray.com/docs/gore1988.pdf (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.) P.S. -- She did NOT give anything to the guy who ended up being elected in 1988. In addition to the $1000 to Gore, she also contributed $1000 to the DNC in 1988. P.P.S. -- Word is that Harry Reid warned Bush that both Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen would be filibustered but that someone like Harriet Miers would be a reasonable alternative worthy of consideration. __________________ Ninong

10-03-2005, 11:21 AM	#18
schrocat Moderator Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Hilliard , Fl. Posts: 3,381	Oh my... Grab that robe and "Suit her" up! __________________ "One man's vulgarity is another man's lyric" -Justice John Marshall Harlan "Send Lawyers, Guns and Money." -WZ

10-03-2005, 11:49 AM	#20
Ninong Moderator Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Louisiana Posts: 20,229	Here are some typical comments from the Rightwing peanut gallery: They are even less enthusiastic about Harriet Miers than they were about the idea of Alberto Gonzales being nominated. Think Progress has sampled the wingnuts and complied their comments: http://thinkprogress.org/2005/10/03/...ts-miers-hard/ __________________ Ninong

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