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Bush looks for new Supreme Court nominee
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-29 10:23
AVOIDING A DEMOCRATIC REVOLT
McClellan signaled Bush would not conduct the same level of consultations
with the Senate as he did for Miers and U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, since
he already has received plenty of input from individual senators.
"We've had extensive consultations with members of the Senate," he said.
After the conservative backlash against Miers, Bush's goal was to pick
someone who could satisfy the Republican right while showing a mastery of
constitutional legalities in a fair-minded way to avoid a Democratic revolt.
Legal experts monitoring the process said U.S. appeals court judge Samuel
Alito, 55, might fit the bill of a conservative jurist with broad constitutional
experience and a long paper trail much like that of Roberts.
The Senate confirmed Roberts on September 29 on a bipartisan vote of 78-22.
"If you were looking for the person out there closely to John Roberts in
terms of background and qualifications and likely reception by the public, you
would probably turn to Alito," said former White House lawyer Brad Berenson.
Several other names were in the mix.
Experts said they would not be surprised if Bush, after the Miers experiment,
dropped his drive to name a woman to replace O'Connor.
Reid, who had urged Bush to consider Miers, and Leahy made clear that if Bush
picks someone previously blocked by Democrats he could expect a fight.
Conservative judges Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown were blocked by
Democrats during Bush's first term before being confirmed this year as appeals
court judges. Both are seen as possible Supreme Court contenders.
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