There's no official announcement yet, but news outlets are reporting that President Bush has selected Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., as his nominee to the United States Supreme Court. An announcement is expected at 8:00 a.m. EST.
Article III Groupie didn't predict that Judge Alito would be the nominee, at least not in recent weeks.* SCOTUSblog's Tom Goldstein did predict Alito, making him three-for-three in major SCOTUS predictions -- the undisputed champ of Supreme Court prognostication.
In this case, A3G is absolutely thrilled to be wrong. Judge Alito is a simply sensational choice, her personal favorite among all the short-listers. A3G is honored that the president and his advisors heeded her impassioned, eleventh-hour plea to select Samuel Alito over J. Michael Luttig for the Court.
Judge Alito, A3G can't accept flowers from you; but a shout-out on your blog would be lovely, thanks! An offer to clerk for you on the Supreme Court would also be accepted with gratitude.
Congratulations, Judge Alito!!!
* Back in this post, in November 2004, A3G mentioned Judge Sam Alito -- alongside then-Judge John G. Roberts, now Chief Justice Roberts -- as a top SCOTUS possibility.
Where is he admitted to practice? New Jersey? His name does not turn up in the DC bar database, even though he spent many years in Washington.
Posted by: | November 02, 2005 at 11:01 PM
Tom Goldstein's prediction record is impressive, but if we're keeping track, it should be noted that for some time, he was predicting that Emilio Garza would be nominated to succeed Rehnquist. See the "Judge Garza" post at the Supreme Court Nomination blog on June 12.
Posted by: | October 31, 2005 at 11:32 AM