Posted on 05/26/2012 2:08:35 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Paul Clement, who served as U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush and is now a lawyer in private practice, is the favorite of many conservatives. Clement argued last month for the Supreme Court to strike down Obama's 2010 healthcare law, and he is defending laws that ban same-sex marriage and that target illegal immigrants.
Clement, 45, would be "at the top of any short list right now," said Curt Levey, executive director of the Committee for Justice, a group that advocates for conservative nominees.
Asked about Clement, Mary Ann Glendon, a co-chairwoman of Romney's Justice Advisory Committee, voiced "unbounded admiration" for him.
"He's the type of person who fits the mold that the governor has pledged to look for," Glendon said, adding that "it's much too soon to speculate about names."
Mentioned as often as Clement is Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Kavanaugh, 47, sits on a court that produced four sitting justices. He has deep roots in Washington, D.C., having worked in the Bush White House and assisted in the 1990s investigation that nearly led to President Bill Clinton's ouster.
Kavanaugh is known for elaborate opinions such as a 65-page dissent he wrote in November exploring how an 1867 tax law barred courts from considering Obama's healthcare law until 2015.
A third possibility, Judge Diane Sykes, is often mentioned as a likely Romney nominee if the next person to leave the Supreme Court is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court's senior woman justice. Ginsburg has survived cancer twice.
Sykes, 54, was appointed to a Chicago-based U.S. appeals court in 2004, overcoming Democratic criticism of her record in abortion-related cases.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Wisconsin native Paul Clement tops the list every time. There are a handful of very smart conservatives who are on the short list.
1) Kinda getting ahead of ourselves here. He’s not even officially the nominee and now he’s making SCOTUS appointments?
2) It’s doubtful the other two liberal justices are retiring soon and almost certainly won’t while there is a Republican in the White House, even a RINO, knowing how close they are now to an ideological split.
3) None of the conservative justices are particularly old or in ill health. I don’t see any of them dying or stepping down before 2017.
4) Whenever Justice Kennedy decides to step down, all hell will break loose. I pity whoever the president is at that time (but pray it is a conservative) because the libs will DEMAND a liberal be put in his place.
I’m no Romney lover but Freepers who threaten to stay home because there’s no difference between Romney and Obama would do well to remember that a Romney presidency gives us potential SCotUS justices like Kavanaugh and Clement while Obama will give us more Kagans and Sotomeyers.
If Clement is nominated, the libs and media will say he shouldn’t serve since he argued the Obamacare case. They will claim that shows him as too partisan. Seriously - they will make that argument with a straight face.
“Whenever Justice Kennedy decides to step down, all hell will break loose. I pity whoever the president is at that time (but pray it is a conservative) because the libs will DEMAND a liberal be put in his place.”
That’s why we need to concentrate on the down-ballot races, to assure enough Senators to prevent a worst-case senario.
I'd want a word put in for Eugene Volokh, legal scholar who's foursquare RKBA, ever since it was still unfashionable and career-disadvantageous to be RKBA-friendly (a palm to lefty-law dean Laurence Tribe on that, he joined Volokh and others in finding 2A a stong individual right).
Don't kid yourself. Given some of the ages of the justices, anything could happen.
Scalia is in his late 70s and, while he seems healthy at that age, you never know when someone could take a quick turn for the worst. Kennedy is the same age and, while he's obviously the court's "moderate," why wouldn't we want to at least have a chance to replace him with a conservative.
Furthermore, Ginsburg is even older and there's a good chance the next president will replace her on the court, giving us a chance to solidify a true conservative majority.
Conversely, if Scalia and Kennedy leave the court, for whatever reason, we could easily end up with a hard left majority there for 20-30 years. That alone is a reason to vote for Romney, rather than risk four more years of Obama appointees.
Ruth Buzzi Ginsburg is 79 and a cancer survivor. I just don’t see her stepping down if she didn’t while Obama was in office. If she steps down this summer, you can image it will become a campaign issue and the Senate may not vote on it until after Election Day (why would a Dem up for re-election want to tie himself to the viewpoint of a radical left Obama nominee?).
Scalia is 76. Kennedy is 75. Breyer is 73. It should be noted that SCOTUS justices have excellent health care and routinely live well into their 80s.
As president, Mitt will nominate judges in the mold of Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito.
That's encouraging. Let's hope he follows through.
Sandy O'Connor was 76, and Fun Boy Souter 67 when he moved to Fire Island. However, the loathsome J.P. Stevens overstayed his welcome until he was 90.
Hmm, Justice Scalia just turned 78, Justice Kennedy will turn 78 later this year, Justice Breyer will be 76 in August, and Justice Ginsburg is 81.
The next few years will be crucial. They will probably set the direction of the court for the next 100 years. And I’m pretty sure that if Obambi is reelected, his next appointee will be a muslim.
The Mitt-Haters will be here soon enough to tell us all that there is no reason to expect Romney’s appointments to be better than Obama’s.
If Obama is defeated, than the DemocRATS will react based as much on who retires as who is nominated. If Scalia retires, than a Republican President would have mostly free reign and DemocRATS won’t put up a huge fight. The other possible vacanacies will be a very different story.
It’s interesting that Anthony Kennedy is one of the most powerful people in the country.
I don’t know where you got those ages but Wikipedia lists DOB for Scalia as 3/11/36, making him 76, Kennedy as 7/23/36 which makes him 76 in a few months. Ginsburg’s DOB is 3/15/33 (beware the Ides of March) which means she is 79 and Breyer’s is 8/15/38 so he is 73 and will be 74 at the end of the summer.
Sometimes justices will step down when the president is a philosophical soulmate so he can replace them with somebody similar but it doesn’t happen all that much. I think it is very likely there will be no new justices during the next presidential term.
We’re not getting ahead of ourselves.
Looking toward Supreme Court appointees is among the most important reasons to support Romney.
I’m glad he is considering solid conservatives and I have total faith that he will make excellent appointments.
And, by the way, Romney IS the nominee if one lives in the known universe.
Excellent list.
Not sure I agree.
SP judges do live a long time. They have secure jobs and not too much to do.
However, four years is a long time when one gets into one’s 80’s. I think the liberal judges will hang in if they can during Romney’s presidency, but maybe they can’t.
Anyway, if Romney does a decent job and the economy turns around, he’ll probably get 8 years. That will give him almost a hundred percent chance of nominating several judges.
I think you revealed the answer without realizing it. ;->
“Excellent list.”
True, and that’s the short list. There are others who haven’t been ruled out yet.
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