Conservative groups are lining up to give the President advice on a replacement for retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, according to the New York Times via the Denver Post [July 3, 2004, "Right weighs in on court"]. From the article, "Conservative groups confronted President Bush with a groundswell of opposition this weekend against nominating his attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, to the Supreme Court, warning that doing so would splinter conservative support."
Doc Searls: "President Bush has said he is 'a uniter, not a divider'. Here's his best chance to prove it. While all the pundits (including countless bloggers) expect a 'war' to break out over what nearly everybody expects to be an ideological choice, the president would commit a healing act of immeasurable significance just by appointing a jurist with impeccable legal credentials rather than ideal political ones."
The Moderate Voice: "In a way, this is George Bush's supreme defining moment - as a matter of personal principle. He can't run again. This is one of his last shots. If he feels Gonzales is a good man and is someone who HE would want to put on the court will Bush have the courage to nominate him or will he act in a way that he prides himself as not acting on in other matters - by holding his finger up to the wind and going in the direction the wind goes? Is it wiser for him to construct his own legacy or to be attuned to what the base wants it to be, and let them construct it for him?"
TalkLeft: "Senator Specter (the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee) fears the power of his party's right wing, but he knows his constituents don't want him to support an extreme nominee. Hoping to avert an ugly battle before his committee, Specter has asked the president to meet with a Senate team of Democrats and Republicans--Frist, Reid, Leahy, and Specter--to work toward a consensus nominee. That notion enjoys wide support, but seeking a consensus hasn't been the president's management style."
Blogs for Bush: "We need an end to the relentless political war over judges - and the ball is squarely in the leftwing court; it is the left which has to decide that it will abide by the Constitution of the United States and accept the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box."
Category: 2004 Presidential Transition
8:10:29 AM 
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