Bush May Announce Supreme Court Pick Friday
CNN reports that President Bush may announce his nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on Friday - the day after the Senate votes to confirm John Roberts as Chief Justice.
Reading between the lines of what sources tell CNN:
- It will be a woman or a minority
- It will not be an extremist like Priscilla Owen, or Janice Rogers Brown or even conservative Edith Clement
- It could be former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson
I would add to the list of possible nominees: 9th Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan. Like 5th Circuit Judge Ed Prado, she was put on the Court by Bush - and overwhelmingly supported by Democrats on the Judicary Committee.
Some Details:
- Her background before being a judge was primarily in criminal law - as a prosecutor
- She's a conservative Republican
- She found the Pledge's "Under G-d" unconsitutional [note, I haven't been able to find a 9th circuit opinion confirming this.]
- Non-liberal Diane Feinstein supports her here.
There are 93 9th Circuit appellate decisions on Lexis in which she participated. Skimming them, I've seen some favorable habeas rulings and a favorable Miranda and Sec. 1983 civil rights ruling - and some adverse immigration rulings.
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