So Maybe It's NOT Judge Clement?

Earlier this afternoon, it was looking fairly clear that President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court was going to be Judge Edith Brown Clement of the Fifth Circuit. But now matters are getting confusing. According to RedState.org (thanks to Professor Berman for the link), "[w]ithin the past hour, staffers on the Senate Judiciary Committee have begun steering people away from Edith Brown Clement." According to ABC News, Judge Clement is definitely not the President's choice:

An informed source told ABC News they had spoken with Clement and said she received a phone call from the White House this afternoon. According to the source, Clement was thanked for meeting with the president and sharing her views on the Supreme Court, but that the administration has decided to go in a "different direction."

Rumors, rumors, and more rumors! Even for a lover of judicial gossip like A3G, keeping track of all the SCOTUS rumors -- such as the false rumors about Chief Justice Rehnquist's supposed retirement -- can get very frustrating. The bottom line is that we'll just have to wait until 9 p.m. Eastern Time, when President Bush is scheduled to announce his nominee.

So much is up in the air right now. What can we be pretty sure of? Here are a few items:

1. Contrary to the initial predictions of many, A3G included, the nominee's probably not going to be Alberto Gonzales (maybe because of some of the reasons enumerated here).

2. The nominee will probably be a woman, perhaps because of the considerable pressure placed on the President -- pressure both political and personal in nature -- to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with another woman.

3. There's a very good chance that she will be a Fifth Circuit judge named "Edith," such as Judge Edith Brown Clement or Judge Edith Hollan Jones.

4. There's a good chance that she will be a judicial diva recently confirmed to a circuit court, such as Judge Priscilla R. Owen (5th Cir.) or Judge Janice Rogers Brown (D.C. Cir.). (Update: Over at the highly reliable Supreme Court Nomination Blog, Tom Goldstein reports that "Priscilla Owen has reportedly told people that she will not be the nominee.")

5. There's a decent chance that she will be a judicial hottie, such as Judge Edith H. Jones (5th Cir.) or Judge Karen J. Williams (4th Cir.). (Click here, and scroll down to female hotties #3 and #8.)

6. There's an outside chance it could be another female candidate recently mentioned in the news. These include Justice Maura D. Corrigan, of the Michigan Supreme Court; Cecilia M. Altonaga, a U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Florida; and Professor Mary Ann Glendon, of Harvard Law School.

This is all so super-exciting -- A3G can't wait until 9 p.m.!

Comments

[Don Singleton]

John G Roberts is the USSC Nominee. I had a lot of stuff for Edith Brown "Joy" Clement and a fair amount on J. Michael Luttig, but I got surprised by the nomination of John Roberts

http://donsingleton.blogspot.com/2005/07/john-g-roberts.html is my blog entry

[Kate]

The idea that the replacement for Justice O'Connor needs to be a woman is extraordinarily sexist. I'm sorry to see so many qualified judges left out of the selection process because they are male.
I think it is sad that the common opinion from NPR to the First Lady is that there is something about a 'woman qua woman' that should be taken into consideration when choosing a Justice to sit on the Supreme Court. One might have hoped that seeing two women sit on the bench who are as different as O'Connor and Ginsberg would have helped dispel some of this sexism.
That said, for reasons related to her intellectual and judicial positions, and not b/c of her gender, or race, I would love to see judicial diva, and long shot, Janice Rogers Brown promoted to the Court.
Thanks for all the work on this fabulous blog, keep the gossip coming!

[Bill Cash]

A3G, this is my first comment on your blog and I have to say I'm eagerly awaiting all updates! There has to be some fresh dish. I couldn't agree with you more, the SCOTUS needs a judicial diva!!!