Bush eyes Leahy for Supreme Court

[cali]

WASHINGTON — Justice Patrick J. Leahy? That may be the title bestowed upon Vermont’s senior senator if Pres. George W. Bush takes the advice of top judicial advisors.

The Vermont Guardian has learned that U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, has moved to the top of a list of potential Supreme Court nominees currently being reviewed by Pres. Bush.

Leahy is currently chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and one of the more powerful members of the Senate, and has taken on the Bush administration directly over issues related to secret spying on citizens, expansions of the USA PATRIOT Act, the concept of the unitary executive, and the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

<snip>

“We have let Sen. Leahy know that Pres. Bush is considering him at this time as part of a pre-qualification mode, if you will. If Justice Stevens retires before the end of his term, and with a Democratic-led Senate, there are limited choices available to us,” said a source close to the evaluation process.

It’s not the first time that Leahy’s name been on a list of potential Supreme Court justices. In fact, it is widely believed in Democratic circles that if a Democrat wins the White House in 2008 that Leahy would be a likely choice to fill any vacated seat on the high court’s bench. After Stevens, the next justice most likely to retire is Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who was appointed by Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1986. Kennedy turned 70 last year.

<snip>

http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/042007/LeahySupremeApril1.shtml

[BlooInBloo]

1. Would VT be a contested Senate seat? Would it leave a Cheney-lock in the Senate?

[eleny]

6. april fool's joke or not - the current governor is a repuke

[BlooInBloo]

12. Ooooo - teehee!

[cali]

15. I love that you and

others bought it. What good is an April fool's day joke that everyone sees through immediately?

[BlooInBloo]

18. I'm here for you, Cali. :)

[ruggerson]

2. April Fools

;)

[blitzen]

3. April 1....hmmm

[GCP]

4. Is this an April Fool joke?

Are they expecting any of the supremes to keel over and die soon?

[BearSquirrel2]

5. APRIL FOOLS!!!!

April Fools ...

I'll believe it when I see it. This is a battle for judicial supremacy and there is no way they would nominate a Democratic to take a Supreme Court seat even if it DOES buy away an administration critic. They'll be another Democrat there to take Leahy's place and run EXACTLY the same hearings.

[Vincardog]

7. Ha ha you almost got me

[Bucky]

8. Let me guess.... Vermont has a Republican governor.

It's a nice gesture, of course, but sadly the name of the game, by Republican standards, is never name a justice under the age of 50. I love Leahy's record, but the country needs him where he is. Besides, how do we know it's not just a ploy to trick Stevens into resigning before the next election. A pretty clear bait and switch--or at worst put an older guy on the benc who they'll have a shot at replacing in ten years rather than wait two years adn have a Democratic president replace Stevens with a 45 year old.

[cali]

11. This is an April fool's day joke.

Leahy is about the last person bushco would ever nominate. Furthermore, much as I love him, he's not the most qualifed guy. Sure he was a 4 term Prosecutor, but that was ages ago, and the guy entered the Senate when he was 34 years old.

[onenote]

9. cali - this sure sounds like an April Fools Day story to me!

While Leahy has voted for the "partial birth abortion" ban, he also has supported embyronic stem cell research, opposed the ban on cloning and generally has a 50% rating from NARAL. His positions on other issues are also to the left of the typical repub.

Chimpy isn't going to be concerned with getting anyone confirmed if another spot opens up. In fact, to the contrary, he'd like to pick a fight (1) to rally the repub base for the 2008 election and (2) to create an issue about an obstructionist Democratic congress.

This sounds like a joke to me.

[cali]

10. onenote, of course

it's an April fool's day joke! To the left of the typical repub? Leahy's one of the most liberal Senators there is. He's also one of the strongest anti-corruption folks in the entire Congress. If there's a single dem Senator bushco hates more than Leahy, I can't think who it would be.

[Cameron27]

13. Well you got me...

my head spun around so fast with that one, it brought tears to my eyes.

Bad Cali, bad, bad, bad. ROFL

[NastyRiffraff]

14. If this were true...

it would finish off Cheney. We wouldn't even need to drive a stake through his heart.

[peacetalksforall]

16. It's fun when you read something and your jaw drops and it's April 1.

It's not fun when your jaw drops and it's not April 1.

[cali]

17. Exactly.

And it's fun to "get" people on April 1.

[Breeze54]

19. Yeah...how clever.

NOT!