Interest and Perspective

Before the president chose Miers on Oct. 3, speculation had focused on her and two other Bush loyalists: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Bush's longtime friend who would be the first Hispanic on the court, and corporate lawyer Larry Thompson, who was the government's highest ranking black law enforcement official as deputy attorney general during Bush's first term.

I believe the charges of cronyism have worked; Gonzo ain’t gonna happenin (so say also the conservative bloggers—notice I didn’t say republicans or wingnuts, but real conservatives; so also say the anti-abortionists; they really did buy the cronyism thing. loving it.). So here are who I think, after spending about six minutes of research each on the ones I wasn’t familiar with, seem to be the most likely candidates:

Samuel Alito -- an appeals court judge supported by many conservatives. Unnamed administration officials who was on the short list before Bush picked Miers, like Alito, could be the choice. Alito is a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His ideological likeness to United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia has earned him the nickname "Scalito." Alito was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in 1972, and went to Yale Law School, where he earned a J.D. in 1975. From 1981 to 1985 he was Assistant to the United States Solicitor General, and was Deputy assistant to the U.S. attorney general from 1985 to 1987. After a brief stint as U.S. Attorney for the district of New Jersey, he was nominated by George H. W. Bush in 1990 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. His chambers are in Newark, New Jersey. He’s on the same court as Karen Williams.

Karen Williams

Michael Luttig

J. Harvie Wilkinson, author of One Nation Indivisible: How Ethnic Separatism Threatens America, 1997.

Alice Batchelder

Priscilla Owen – Fuck her; it ain’t gonna happen. Even Bush isn’t stupid
enough to try. It’d be fun if he did, though. We could watch him go down
twice on this shit.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice MauraCorrigan – another Scalia disciple. God, why can’t Scalia be at least Posner, or even Easterbrook? At least their ridiculous legal philosophy is interesting…

Judge Edith Jones (5th Cir.) – we should hope not

Edith Brown Clement – probably only if Bush makes an “up-yours, anti-abortion wingnuts” pick. Hmm.

Judge Susan Black of the 11th Circuit – solid, but put in the fed judiciary by Pres. Carter.
Yeah right.

Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the District of Columbia Circuit – Yikes!

Heh: In a letter on Wednesday, Sen. Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, sought assurances that Miers would show no favoritism toward Bush if confirmed as a justice. It may have been the last straw, comingfrom a moderate Republican who said Oct. 11 there was no chance Miers wouldwithdraw before her hearings. "I think that would be a sign of incredible weakness," he said at the time.