Monday, September 30, 2002

You would have thought that a few nice relaxing days in rural Oregon would have taken my mind off of judicial nominations. But it didn't happen -- largely because among the people I was spending time with, was one of President Clinton's judicial appointees, who was subjected to years and years of lies and partisan dawdling before finally being confirmed. So now I'm torn, again: should Senate Democrats play "payback, with interest" or should they instead play "we won't stoop to your level?"

Meanwhile, I figured out that the entire current confirmation mess is really just a complicated setup for the ascension of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court. By bringing Justice Owen to the public attention (through her nomination to the Fifth Circuit), the pro-Gonzales forces induced Democrats to say "See here -- she was a judicial activist reactionary, not like that comparitively moderate and sensible and judicious then-Justice Gonzales." Then, by bringing Mr. Estrada to the public attention (and getting the pundits to tell us that, if he's confirmed to the DC Circuit, he'll be on deck for the Supreme Court), the pro-Gonzales forces will induce Democracts to say, "If it's a Hispanic Supreme Court Justice you're after, then for goodness' sake don't pick a young one with no judicial experience like Estrada!! How about Gonzales instead please??". See, it's all just a setup. Whether the President has been let in on this, I don't know.

posted by sam 1:34 PM 0 comments

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