Nothing much else happening in DC, so people are reading tea leaves about who the nominee will be. Just to have something to say, I will guess Judge Edith Clement. No informed gossip, just guessing. Which is exactly what everyone else is doing.
Sens. Kennedy and Schumer apparently made the rounds of the shows this weekend insisting on a "consensus candidate." Meaning someone the two of them agree on.
I must say "Conservative" chatter about the nominee is no more helpful. For example, it is confidently said that although he really, really wants to, the Prez. can't nominate AG Alberto Gonzales because he'd have to recuse himself from too many cases. But several Attorneys General have been nominated to the Court in our history, so this strikes me as wishful thinking. Equally unhelpful is the argument that Bush should raise a sitting Senator to the Bench --someone like Sen. Cornyn-- because the clubby Senate would have a hard time "Borking" a colleague. Um. Remember the John Tower confirmation process? Or how everyone turned on their "dear colleague" John Ashcroft the instant he was out of the Senate?
In emails from in-the-loop persons wishing to be discreet, the one thing people do seem to agree on is that anyone who is pushed too hard by "the groups" will not be the nominee. And one of Justice Rehnquist's former clerks says his retirement announcement is eminent. Which perhaps explains why Bush is saying he'll take a few weeks to announce his nominee. Maybe he wants to think about two. Whatever. We'll know when we know, and don't worry much about the chatter.
