Supreme Court Nomination Blog

Check it out here. Here is a recent post analyzing possible Bush Supreme Court nominees and the probable degree of opposition from the Democrats:

Wednesday, June 08, 2005
The Most Often Mentioned Candidates And The Prospects For A Senate Fight
Posted by Tom Goldstein at 06:45 AM

Here is my previous list of potential nominees, sorted into categories reflecting my sense of whether they would produce a moderate, substantial, or severe confirmation fight. Note that the premise of these categories is that each of the widely discussed potential nominees is likely to produce Democratic opposition - some, very substantial opposition - because each is quite conservative.

In the Judiciary Committee, I expect that all these nominees would be successfully recommended to the floor, although in a few instances with very considerable difficulty and under great pressure from the Senate leadership. Those in the Mild category would receive a few Democratic votes; Substantial would receive a few (and perhaps none); Severe would receive none.

On the Senate floor, I expect that all these nominees would receive a majority vote, although again in a few instances with some difficulty and as a consequence of loyalty to party. Those in the Mild category would not be subjected to an attempted filibuster; Substantial would be subjected to the discussion of a filibuster and possibly an attempt, with the outcome uncertain except that Republicans would regard the recent pact as having been violated and would successfully impose the nuclear option; and Severe would be subject to a successful filibuster with the outcome regarding the nuclear option uncertain.

To reiterate, because the blog is new, the list doesn't represent any view on whether a particular nominee should be supported or opposed. Rather, it represents my prediction of what would occur.

Moderate

Alberto Gonzales - Attorney General

John Kyl - U.S. Senate

Larry Thompson - General Counsel, PepsiCo (former Deputy Attorney General)

Substantial

Samuel Alito - Third Circuit

Edith Brown Clement - Fifth Circuit

John Cornyn - U.S. Senator

Emilio Garza - Fifth Circuit

J. Michael Luttig - Fourth Circuit

Michael McConnell - Tenth Circuit

Ted Olson - Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (former Solicitor General)

John Roberts - D.C. Circuit

J. Harvie Wilkinson - Fourth Circuit

Severe

Janice Rogers Brown - California Supreme Court (soon to be on the D.C. Circuit)

Edith Jones - Fifth Circuit