[kcvl]

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush is nominating Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, The Associated Press has learned, choosing a long-time federal judge embraced by judicial conservatives to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Bush plans to announce the nomination at 8 a.m. EST, the officials said.



The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to preview Bush's remarks, said Alito was virtually certain to get the nod from the moment Miers backed out. The 55-year-old jurist was Bush's favorite choice of the judges in the last set of deliberations but he settled instead on someone outside what he calls the "judicial monastery," the officials said.

Bush believes that Alito has not only the right experience and conservative ideology for the job, but he also has a temperament suited to building consensus on the court. A former prosecutor, Alito has experience off the bench that factored into Bush's thinking, the officials said.

[YaYa123]

I love this happening on the day Joe Wilson's on the TODAY Show and speaking at the National Press Club. If a tree fell today, no one would hear it! LOL

[alnick]

From the AP article: "The 55-year-old jurist was Bush's favorite choice of the judges in the last set of deliberations but he settled instead on someone outside what he calls the "judicial monastery," the officials said."

While I'll always be leery of anonymous sources, this makes sense as to why he chose Miers. We'll never know how she would have turned out as a justice. It's a shame we've now ruled out anyone without a judicial background.