ABC News, breaking: Source: Clement Not Bush's Choice for High Court

[DeepModem Mom]

Thanks to Lex for this find!


Source: Clement Not Bush's Choice for High Court

July 19, 2005 -- Judge Edith Clement — perceived by many observers as a potential frontrunner for the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor — is not President Bush's choice for the high court.

An informed source told ABC News they had spoken with Clement and said she received a phone call from the White House this afternoon. According to the source, Clement was thanked for meeting with the president and sharing her views on the Supreme Court, but that the administration has decided to go in a "different direction."...

***

A U.S. Court of Appeals judge for the 5th Circuit, Clement was nominated to her current position by Bush and was confirmed by the Senate in November 2001.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/SupremeCourt/story?id=953790


Link to LBN discussion re. Clement:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1638067&mesg_id=1638067

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. That "different direction" would be hard right?

Chances are Clement isn't enough of an extremist.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. THAT is what I'm afraid of. nt

[joeunderdog]

45. The harder Right, the more fight, the better the diversion

from the Rove/Libby/WH scandal. It'll be a RW just for the fight and distraction, even if they never intend to get him/her in.

[Don Claybrook]

10. I've got $2.00 on David Duke

The odds aren't really that bad, 50-to-1 or so, and I stand to make large coin for little to no work.

And the more extremist the candidate is, the more news and congressional cycles the process will consume, ergo, less treason coverage.

So yeah, I'm going with David Duke as a darkhorse, but only because Eric Rudolph is otherwise indisposed.

[KamaAina]

26. Snarf! I brought up Duke's name at one of our "DUaus"

at Opihi's on Da Pond.

oasis asked if Duke had any judicial experieince. My response: "You really think that matters to them?"

Of course, if it is Dukkke, I won't ezactly be strutting around saying "I told you so!" :scared:

[trogdor]

32. Well, if you throw enough coal on the fire...

...it might go out, or it might cause your boiler to asplode. People assume the press can't handle more than one news story at a time. Rove plus RW nutjob might equal blowback.

[MallRat]

11. Yup. It's probably Hollan Jones.

The subsequent firestorm and bitter, protracted confirmation battle will bury Traitorgate in the news.

And it'll make the religious right very happy.

[JoFerret]

44. It's got to be extreme and wacky enough

...to distract attention away from Rove and the rest of the White House traitors.

[terrya]

3. I'm betting it's Gonzalez

[ECH1969]

4. Ann Coulter

I am sure of it.

[AlinPA]

5. Roy Moore. Just the ticket for the rpig base.

[RadiDem]

30. Yup, he might nominate a 'throw away' to get focus off Rove

[napi21]

6. Wouldn't surprise me at all. Shrub likes to surprise the Press.

He would be pissed if they announced his choice before he had the chance.

Just wait and see. It's only a couple more hours.

[Parche]

7. Sources

So who was the informed source? Rove or Novak?

[mmonk]

8. creating suspense

to make sure everyone's watching. Don't watch, tune in later to see what scum is chosen. Then keep emailing the media to get back on Treasongate. Play hardball.

[slackmaster]

12. Reagan was SO much better at the theatrics

Everyone I know, regardless of political persuasion, is saying they wish Bush would just fucking release the name so we can get on with things.

[iamjoy]

23. He Needs To Do It This Way

He is asking the stations for air time so he can make is announcement on live television & also take some time to start the spin on why his right wing judicial activist is a moderate who will fairly interpret the law.

This way, he gets the jump start on it all, so when the Democrats start protesting they look uncooperative.

And people say Dubya is stupid. He's diabolical.

[SpiralHawk]

36. Bush will also get to claim he held a monthly press conference

Even though most all questions will likely be about SCOTUS, not White House treason.

[ECH1969]

9. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

He shares Bush's judicial philosophy and has a firm stand his base agrees with on moral and social issues. Then again it might be Mullah Omar.

[Don Claybrook]

13. Unfortunately for us, Bush seems to actually exist n/t

[ECH1969]

17. No he is a mechanical puppet for Rove

[MN ChimpH8R]

14. Doubtless going to be some Reich wing nutbar.

:scared:

[Logician]

15. This should be no surprise

It will be an arch conservative like Edith Hollan Jones. In then end, the administration gave the impression of asking for input, but then does what it desires-- without consensus.

[dave29]

16. Wopner

Definately Wopner

[Cicero]

18. Nah, it'll be Judge Judy! (nt)

[DeepModem Mom]

19. GDers speculating Edith Jones. Would be an outrage. nt

[wovenpaint]

20. My guess is that he's chosen the most controversial person

so it knocks the "Rove/Plame issue" right out of the water...and away from the attention of the press and the (potentially) awakening American citizenry.
It's short-sighted true, but seems to be their "style".
(My, how cynical I've become these past few years)

[RadiDem]

31. I agree, the first nominee might be a 'sandbag'

[leftynyc]

37. I totally agree about getting Rove off

the front pages. That's why I think it will be Edith Jones. And I don't think it's short-sighted. They know it will be long and contentious and that confirmation doesn't have to happen until October (and not even then legally)....keeps Rove off the front pages until then (which is around the same time this Grand Jury adjourns). It's a win-win for them which is why I'm swearing like a sailor in my head.

[wovenpaint]

39. Good points!

Yes, it sure could be "win/win" for those cretins. :grr: :grr: :grr:
lol, I went on to read other threads and see I'm not the only cynical one!
I still hope that this Rove/Cheney/?? CRIME continues to build momentum and spins out of control for *ushco as well. I'm swearing along with you!!

[leftynyc]

41. I will be really pissed if the Dems

can't figure out a way to focus on two stories at once. Let the senators do their thing with the court and let everyone else focus on this criminal administration.

[iamjoy]

21. The Other Name I Heard Is Edith Jones

She's a real peach, oh yeah.
Advocates limited role for government and also states that lawsuits do not bring social justice. So, how, I wonder, does she think companies are going to "do the right thing" even if it isn't the most profitable when the government isn't regulated and the citizens cannot redress through the courts?

She also feels law has its basis in religion, and religion is meant to be part of our lives. By religion, she of course means her interpretation of Christianity.

And she's an enemy of choice. She will follow the law, but make her opinions known, advocating if not "legislating" as she did when she wrote a concurring opinion in McCorvey vs. Hill (http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/03/03-10711-CV0.wpd.pdf)

[DeepModem Mom]

24. She's married to a Houston lawyer -- she's a good bet. Also, see this:

Moral conservatives couldn't do any better than Judge Edith Hollan Jones for the Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Judge Jones is considered by many the clear choice in fulfilling President George W. Bush's promise of a Constitution-grounded "strict constructionist."

Just 56, Judge Jones has served twenty years as an appellate judge on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court. She was appointed by President Reagan in 1985 at the age of 36.

Judge Jones has openly criticized Roe v. Wade, condemns "modish, untested philosophical notions" imposed by the Supreme Court "that would have left the Framers aghast," and believes that the Framers' principles of limited government and personal virtue were derived mainly from the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. In January 2003, she told a University of Virginia audience that the nation's foundational values were Biblical....

http://www.renewamerica.us/news/050710jones.htm

[MrBenchley]

22. So a LEAK says the name that was LEAKED to distract us from Rove's LEAK

was wrong...

Boy, that sure distracts me from the spectacle of a bunch of crooked right wing shitheads who can't be trusted with secrets, yes-sir-ee...

[zara]

25. Shoring up the "base" to deflect from Rovegate requires

a full-fledged wingnut: John Asscroft! Or you know the drill. ANything to keep Rove off the front pages.

[The Stranger]

27. More true to form for him.

He is not going to propose a right-wing moderate (at least moderate in relation to his extremist base). He is going to start a fight and use that to deflect attention away from Rove. In fact, I would bet Rove advised him to do that.

[TomClash]

28. Luttig

[Beowulf]

29. Perhaps they are looking to create as many fights as possible

By creating lots of fights, they are almost certain to win some of them. If Dems vehemently oppose several high-profile decisions at the same time, * can claim the Dems are always negative. We reach a point of "outrage fatigue," and compromise and * gets a little more of his right-wing nuttery into place.

I think it may be more likely that the Rove business will be a distraction for the SC confirmation.

[Vinca]

33. Here's a long shot.

Maybe it's Arlen Specter. Maybe Shrub called him to the White House to give him the good news, not to consult on the nominee.

[msongs]

34. osama bin laden - to see if he will show up to win the prize LOL n/t

[onehandle]

35. It's going to be Karl Rove.

That's the only way that Bush can save Karl's ass.

[WatchWhatISay]

38. Ted Olson or Lawrence Silberman

That is what I fear

[Booster]

40. Can Sandra Day O'Conner decide to stay at this late date? After

she finds out who he nominates, she just might decide to stay on for the sake of the country. Anyone know for sure?

[msanthrope]

42. I'm betting John Roberts---White, Male, Establishment.......

And pro-War on Terra (tm). Bushie may be looking ahead to Rove rulings...

[VegasWolf]

43. Gotta be John Ashcroft. nt

[still_one]

46. That is what I thought would happen

let us divide the country even more

[mandomom]

47. I wouldn't put much stock

in any leaks from the White House. Don't these reporters learn that the real scoop, the real story is how Bush and Rove continue to delight in deceiving them?

[mandomom]

48. Don't take Bush and Rove's new bait.

The story is ROVE, ROVE, ROVE. LIBBY, LIBBY, LIBBY.

[DeepModem Mom]

49. WP says CNN speculating Luttig --

"Rumors about J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit are reemerging, emanating from CNN, which reported that he was gathering his family, all dressed up, for some sort of event."

http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/campaignforthecourt/


Link to WP article about Luttig, John Roberts:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/16/AR2005071601049.html

....Those who know Luttig describe him as a warm and engaging but private man, who speaks in a Texas drawl and rarely goes to Washington social events.

His paper trail is extensive and, in the view of supporters, an asset rather than a liability because it offers the Republican base a guarantee of his conservatism that Roberts cannot match. Luttig is well known as one of the federal bench's leading advocates of the view, also endorsed by Scalia, that the text of constitutional provisions and statutes should be interpreted as close to literally as possible.

In 1999, he wrote the 4th Circuit opinion that struck down a portion of the federal Violence Against Women Act, saying Congress had exceeded its constitutional powers by giving rape victims the right to sue their attackers in federal court. The Supreme Court upheld Luttig's appellate opinion.

His record also includes at least one case bound to please antiabortion activists. When Virginia wanted to start enforcing a ban on the procedure critics call "partial birth" abortion in 1998, state officials sought out a conservative jurist -- Luttig -- who would rule in their favor....(A)lthough Luttig's rhetoric has earned him a reputation as a staunch conservative, his adherence to textualism as he sees it has sometimes led to results that cannot be so easily categorized....

***

"I've always felt that people who view him as a knee-jerk conservative or ideologue are completely off base," said former attorney general William P. Barr, who worked with Luttig in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in the early 1990s....