The subtext for the ongoing fight over judicial nominees is, of course, how the Senate will consider a Supreme Court vacancy, should one come up during the 109th Congress. With Chief Justice Rehnquist ailing, the White House has not only prepared a shortlist of possible nominees, it’s also reached out to conservative activists to survey them on who they’d like to see on the highest court in the land.
Preparations are already well under way within the White House to fill an expected vacancy on the Supreme Court, with at least one conservative legal organization having submitted its recommendations on who should sit on the nation’s top court.
The White House is keeping mum about the early preparations — several top administration officials will not even acknowledge that preliminary work has begun, despite the serious health issues that kept Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80, off the bench for much of this year.
But others with close White House connections say a short list is well into development.
“There’s a normal process that the White House has definitely been pursuing for at least six months where they are soliciting views and recommendations,” said Samuel B. Casey, executive director of the Christian Legal Society (CLS). “We have submitted our views.”
The fact that the Bush gang has made preparations for a vacancy is not particularly troubling. The Supreme Court hasn’t gone this long without a vacancy since 1823, at least a couple of very elderly justices have health problems, so it stands to reason that the White House would have a list of possible nominees in mind.
But the fact that coordination has begun with conservative activist groups is far more problematic.
Remember, for example, that Manuel Miranda, a former staffer to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, helped steal thousands of pages of documents from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Almost immediately, the stolen memos started showing up in conservative media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal. In fact, just this week, the Washington Times ran an item, based on the stolen documents, to highlight the fact that Dem senators spoke with progressive groups about judges and their qualifications.
The right was outraged to learn that senators in the minority would seek input from outside liberal groups about the merit of circuit court and appeals court nominees. Now, however, we’re learning that the White House is doing the exact same thing for a court with far greater impact.
Indeed, to follow the right’s logic, it’s outrageous for People for the American Way to tell Dick Durbin that Priscilla Owen is a conservative judicial activist, but it’s perfectly fine for aides to the president to “solicit views and recommendations” from the Christian Legal Society, one of many religious right legal groups, about who belongs on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sounds like another one of those It’s-OK-if-you’re-a-Republican moments.
For what it’s worth, these are the names in circulation, according to the Times:
* Michael W. McConnell on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
* Edith Hollan Jones, who practiced law in Texas and now sits on the 5th Circuit
* Samuel Alito, a 3rd Circuit judge from Philadelphia
* J. Michael Luttig of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, considered one of the most conservative judges on the federal bench.
* J. Harvie Wilkinson III, also on the 4th Circuit
* Emilio Garza of the 5th Circuit