News Picking a Supreme Court Nominee: What's Bush Thinking?

[pattylou]

What next nomination for the Supreme Court would help provide bush with support?

I have heard tha a conservative nominee will be met with a filibuster and I have heard that a moderate nominee will be frowned upon by the right. Bush has to know that this is an important decision.

Who do you think he'll come up with, and his rationale for that?

 

[loseyourname]

A conservative, with his rationale being that he said he would do so when he was campaigning and wants to keep his promise to the people that elected him.

 

[Townsend]

What next nomination for the Supreme Court would help provide bush with support?

I have heard tha a conservative nominee will be met with a filibuster and I have heard that a moderate nominee will be frowned upon by the right. Bush has to know that this is an important decision.

Who do you think he'll come up with, and his rationale for that?

What I want to know is, what happens if do to a filibuster Bush's presidency is over before the next nominee is confirmed? Has anything like that ever happened before?

 

[loseyourname]

Can't the president override the filibuster? I sure hope the judiciary committee doesn't decide to read names out of a phone book for the next three years. That won't just keep them from voting on the nomination. That'll keep them from doing anything.

 

[Grogs]

Can't the president override the filibuster? I sure hope the judiciary committee doesn't decide to read names out of a phone book for the next three years. That won't just keep them from voting on the nomination. That'll keep them from doing anything.

The President can't. It takes a 60-40 vote of the Senate to override a filibuster (invoke cloture? is that the right term?) and right now Republicans don't have that large a margin. The Republican leadership comtemplated the idea of changing the rules to make it only require a majority vote. If you remember all the talk about the 'nuclear option' several months back when several federal judges were being held up, this is what they were talking about.

 

[Grogs]

I guess I should also add my thoughts about the candidate. Unless Bush can find another 'Manchurian Candidate' nominee with outstanding credentials and almost zero legal decisions that he can be held to, I suspect he/she will be somewhat moderate. Since both sides knew another vote was coming up soon, there may have been quite a few backroom deals made to ensure the Roberts vote passed without difficulty.

 

[SOS2008]

What next nomination for the Supreme Court would help provide bush with support?

I have heard tha a conservative nominee will be met with a filibuster and I have heard that a moderate nominee will be frowned upon by the right. Bush has to know that this is an important decision.

Who do you think he'll come up with, and his rationale for that?

Let's remember that three very right-wing nominations were approved as a result of the Gang of 14 negotiations. And in large part responsible for Roberts nomination, which went fairly smoothly, also due to lack of record and because he represents a "wash." Nonetheless, Roberts created enough concern that if Bush chooses a candidate that is at all questionable, it will create divisiveness. If Bush is his usual self and plays to his base, it will be to his detriment.

 

[BobG]

What I want to know is, what happens if do to a filibuster Bush's presidency is over before the next nominee is confirmed? Has anything like that ever happened before?

If the nomination is met by a filibuster, the President can appoint a justice, temporarily, during a recess of Congress (this wasn't the intent of recession appointments, but it is a side effect - the intent was to allow emergency appointments that couldn't wait until Congress reconvened). The appointment is good until the current session of Congress expires (end of 2006).

John Bolton's is currently a temporary appointment to the UN Ambassador post.

If Congress still refuses to confirm a Supreme Court nominee (or a UN Ambassador), the President could make another temporary appointment to cover 2007 to the end of 2008. Eventually, you would hope someone would be officially approved as Supreme Court justice, but, considering the heated relations between Congressional Democrats and Republicans, you just never know. If you went through two Congressional sessions without a Supreme Court justice approved and a Democrat won the 2008 Presidential election, you could go over a decade without nine approved Supreme Court members. (This wouldn't be a good thing - by 2016 you could have a majority of Supreme Court members being temporary appointees that would surely be replaced after next election).