July 8, 2005
Private: Morning Nomination Clips, July 8, 2005
As noted in the item below below, the sun rose today over a nominations landscape aflame with rumors that Chief Justice Rehnquist will announce his retirement today.
-ACS Board of Advisors member, former U.S. Solicitor General and leading courtwatcher Walter Dellinger told the audience at a Heritage Society event yesterday that there is "no doubt" Chief Justice Rehnquist will announce his retirement in the next few days. "I would bet a considerable amount of money that the chief will send his letter over no later than Monday," Dellinger said.
-The Washington Post notes the surge of Rehnquist retirement rumors, but doesn't have much new to say in its principal story; another piece profiles the role former Republican National Committee chair and current superlobbyist Ed Gillespie will play in promoting the Administration's nominee(s).
-Yale Professor Jack Balkin examines Justice O'Connor's opinion in the Ten Commandments case, her final say as a judge on the role of religion in our society, and notes that the concerns that animated her Establishment Clause jurisprudence are especially vital in the current political and cultural climate. (Hat tip: Balkinization).
-In Slate David Greenberg examines past Supreme Court nomination battles, and finds ample evidence that history did not begin in 1987.
-The New York Times notes in its story on preparations for hearings being made by Senate Judiciary committee staffers that Committee Chairman Arlen Specter wrote in his autobiography that: "In my judgment, the Senate should resist, if not refuse, to confirm Supreme Court nominees who refuse to answer questions on fundamental issues."
-Desperate for another means of obsessing over every twist and turn in the nominations process? If so, then The Hotline's Blogometer by National Journal is just the timewaster you've been looking for.
All the latest nominations news is just clicks away via the Judicial Nominations page of the ACS website, with links to the sites of every major organization engaged on nominations issues.