Possible Successors ================= Moderate Confirmation Opposition --------------------------------- Alberto Gonzales - Attorney General John Kyl - U.S. Senate Larry Thompson - General Counsel, PepsiCo (former Deputy Attorney General)
Substantial Confirmation Opposition ------------------------------------ Samuel Alito - Third Circuit Edith Brown Clement - Fifth Circuit John Cornyn - U.S. Senator Emilio Garza - Fifth Circuit J. Michael Luttig - Fourth Circuit Michael McConnell - Tenth Circuit Ted Olson - Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (former Solicitor General) John Roberts - D.C. Circuit J. Harvie Wilkinson - Fourth Circuit Severe Confirmation Opposition ------------------------------- Janice Rogers Brown - California Supreme Court (soon to be on the D.C. Circuit) Edith Jones - Fifth Circuit Samuel A. Alito Jr. Born 1950 in Trenton, N.J. Graduate of Princeton and Yale Law School. Was assistant U.S. attorney in New Jersey before becoming assistant solicitor general in 1981 and deputy solicitor general in 1985. Returned to New Jersey as U.S. attorney in 1987. Nominated by George H.W. Bush and confirmed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1990. Known among conservatives as a strict constructionist in the mold of Justice Antonin Scalia. Abortion-rights activists point to his dissent in the 1991 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey -- in which he argued to uphold a Pennsylvania law requiring a married woman to inform her husband before getting an abortion -- as putting him in the anti-Roe v. Wade camp. Emilio M. Garza Born 1947 in San Antonio. Graduate of Notre Dame and University of Texas law school. Served in the Marine Corps from 1970 to 1973. Was a corporate litigator before being nominated by President Reagan and confirmed to a federal district court in Texas in 1988. Elevated by George H.W. Bush and confirmed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991. Is on record as saying Roe v. Wade lacks a constitutional basis and that states should have the right to limit abortion. Alberto R. Gonzales Born 1955 in San Antonio, Texas. Raised in Houston, the second of eight children of an immigrant family. Served in the Air Force from 1973 to 1975. Attended USAF Academy, transferring in 1977 to Rice University and graduating in 1979. Earned Harvard law degree in 1982. Joined Houston firm Vinson & Elkins in 1982. Named general counsel to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in 1994, becoming Texas secretary of state in 1997. He was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court in 1999. Became White House Counsel to President Bush in 2001. Nominated and confirmed as U.S. attorney general in 2005. He has often been cited as an attractive first Hispanic justice to the high court. However, his Senate confirmation battle was heated, focusing on a 2002 memo in which he called aspects of the Geneva Conventions "quaint." Also, many hard-line conservatives worry his judicial leanings are too moderate. J. Michael Luttig Born 1954 in Tyler, Texas. Graduate of Washington and Lee University and University of Virginia law school. Was assistant counsel to the Reagan White House. Clerked for Justice Scalia when he was a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Clerked for U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger from 1983 to 1984. Was nominated by George H.W. Bush and confirmed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991. Has close ties to several high-court justices, both conservative and liberal. A supporter of the death penalty -- even before his father's murder in a 1994 carjacking. Has penned several opinions considered anti-abortion, including one reversing a lower-court decision against a Virginia ban on so-called partial-birth abortion and another that backed the state's law to require parental notification in teen abortions. Michael W. McConnell Born 1955 in Louisville, Ky. Graduate of Michigan State and University of Chicago law school. Clerked for Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan from 1980 to 1981. Was assistant general counsel to the Office of Management and Budget from 1981 to 1983 and assistant to the solicitor general from 1983 to 1985. Taught at Chicago Law School from 1985 to 1996 and has been teaching at University of Utah law school since 1997. Nominated by President Bush in 2001 and confirmed in 2002 to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Known as a brilliant conservative scholar of constitutional law who has openly supported overturning of Roe v. Wade or limiting its reach. Theodore B. Olson Born 1940, in Chicago. Graduate of University of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif., and University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. Was an assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration. As partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, he argued numerous cases before the high court. Represented George W. Bush against Al Gore in disputed 2000 election. Nominated by President Bush and confirmed as U.S. solicitor general in 2001. His wife, Barbara, died Sept. 11, 2001, in the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon. He resigned in 2004 to return to private practice. Comes with no bench experience or record but has lent his courtroom skills to traditional conservative causes, including overturning or limiting affirmative action. John G. Roberts Jr. Born 1955 in Buffalo, N.Y. Graduate of Harvard College and Law School. Clerked for Justice Rehnquist when he was an associate justice. Was special assistant to the attorney general from 1981 to 1982, associate counsel to the Reagan White House from 1982 to 1986, and principal deputy solicitor general from 1989 to 1993. Tapped by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, often regarded as a stepping stone to the high court, but the nomination stalled because of the pending election, and he subsequently joined law firm Hogan & Hartson. In his government and private roles, he argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court. Senate Democrats initially filibustered his renomination to the D.C. Circuit Court but he was confirmed in 2003. He is associated with the push by the Reagan and first Bush administrations to overturn or limit Roe v. Wade. Larry D. Thompson Born 1945, in Hannibal, Mo. Graduate of Culver-Stockton College, Canton, Mo., and University of Michigan Law School. Was U.S. attorney in Georgia from 1982 to 1986. Served in the 1990s in an array of government roles, including independent counsel probing corruption in the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Reagan administration. Was a member of the Republican legal team in the contentious confirmation of then-nominee Clarence Thomas in 1991. Nominated by President Bush and confirmed as deputy attorney general in 2001 under John Ashcroft. Resigned in mid-2003 to return to private practice, and currently is general counsel to PepsiCo. Known for his antipathy to affirmative action, though is considered more moderate than long-time friend Justice Thomas. Conservatives cite him as an attractive choice to become the second black justice on the high court. J. Harvie Wilkinson III Born 1944 in New York City. Grew up in Richmond, Va. Graduate of Yale and the University of Virginia Law School. Ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the House of Representatives in 1970. Clerked for Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell from 1972 to 1973. His career has spanned many roles, including law professor at University of Virginia and deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the civil-rights division. Nominated by President Reagan and confirmed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1984. Known for his vigorous questioning during oral arguments. Key opinions include a ruling upholding President Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy concerning gays serving in the military and a 2002 opinion all but foreclosing judicial review of a citizen held as an enemy combatant. The Supreme Court vacated that opinion, ruling that both citizens and aliens held as enemy combatants may contest their detention in court. Another prospective candidate is Edith Hollan Jones, a judge on the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who was also considered for a Supreme Court vacancy by Mr. Bush's father. More info about her here: http://www.sctnomination.com/blog/archives/candidates/jones/index.html And, of course, Janice Rogers Brown. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:162642 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
