Is the push on again to get Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the Supreme Court — and does the guy doing the pushing have the intitials K.R.?
According to Red State (one of our favorite conservative websites) it is and Rove is:
Word in legal circles is that Priscilla Owen is set to become the next justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, I have received reliable information late this afternoon that Karl Rove, among others, is making a last minute push for the President to consider Alberto Gonzales, despite previous assurances from inside the White House, Justice Department, and Senate that Gonzales was not being considered.
A third party source tells RedState that Rove is pushing for Gonzales and that Larry Thompson’s name has gone off the radar. This afternoon I contacted my White House source who says Karl Rove “believes that Gonzales is conservative and, given the current docket, will have time to prove it before midterm elections.”
The source says it is not a guarantee and there are significant issues at play — including confirmability. I have no word on other names, other than the usual that are already out there.
This will be facscinating to watch for many reasons:
–(1)It’s no secret that GWB would love to see Gonzales on the Supreme Court but so far it has seemed like he is deferring to his base.
–(2)Predictions about who would originally fill O’Connor’s seat were largely wrong when John Roberts emerged so perhaps the conventional wisdom is indeed wrong on Owen, too.
— (3)Gonzales will face some stiff oppostion on the right AND on the left but would that be one of the advantages to naming him?
— (4) Rove is THIS CLOSE to the Prez so it can be assumed he’s doing Bush’s bidding (but you know what they say about “assume” makes an “ass” of “u” and “me.”
–(5)The question arises whether in light of Bush’s flat-to-southward poll numbers he needs to come up with a homerun nominee for the Supreme Court. Does that mean a red meat conservative or someone like Gonzales who could be sold to conservatives as conservative to non-hard-core liberals and centrists as something of a centrist?
–(6)If Bush goes with Gonzales will he have a problem with his base — or does his base really have nowhere to go…and will that go into the final White House calculations?
Red State is a thoughtful, serious website (high on content and info and low on name calling) that often offers some fascinating inside reporting. If it says this is going on behind the scenes then it is indeed going on behind the scenes.
UPDATE: The next nominee put forth by GWB will be not only a test for Bush and the Republican majority but for the Democrats as well. Did the Democrats as a party pass or fail the test posed by the Roberts nomination? Here’s centrist Bull Moose’s view.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, writes a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.