Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.President Ronald Reagan's Nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, AugRG 46, Records of the United States Senate, National Archives. MONTAGNE: NPR senior correspondent Juan Williams. So I think everybody's going to keep their eye on Specter. He received support last fall from President Bush, and-when he was running for re-election, and he's pledged as-when he was becoming Judiciary Committee chair to oppose any judicial filibuster because he said at one point that he thought anybody who opposed abortion would have a hard time getting confirmed for the Supreme Court. He's going through chemotherapy right now.
WILLIAMS: Well, there are lots of them, Renee, but I would say the one that everyone will focus on is Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. MONTAGNE: And just briefly, who are the key players in the Senate? And they want to obtain as many documents as possible, as they've done in the John Bolton nomination to be UN ambassador. They want to allow questions to go beyond qualifications for example, into questions about the rights individuals have who might be charged with terrorism. They want to be involved with consultations with President Bush before the selection of the nominee. Republicans also want to limit the questions on matters of qualifications-to matters of qualifications and, at best, allow really the questions about the law to be settled law, not to allow questions about speculation about how a nominee might decide a case.įor the Democrats, they want to do three things. Republicans say that only under extraordinary circumstances could a filibuster be used, according to the deal, and a candidate's ideology is not an extraordinary circumstance under their reading of the agreement. The filibuster talk, of course, takes us back to the deal worked out in May by 14 senators, half Republican, half Democrats. WILLIAMS: Well, the Democrats say they have that right. MONTAGNE: And how likely is it that the Democrats would filibuster the president's nominee if they're not happy with that nomination? So the process cus-could easily take four to even six weeks, which comes close to the first Monday in October. There will be at least a week of televised hearings, though an intangible will be the FBI report on the nominee and whether anything could show up there that would slow down the process or even lead to additional hearings. WILLIAMS: Well, Judiciary Committee Chairman Specter, Renee, has pledged to have a new justice on the bench in time for the beginning of the term, the first Monday in October. MONTAGNE: And once the president, though, does announce his nominee, the process moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He's seen as one of the leading candidates to replace Justice O'Connor, and that has attracted some critics from the conservative right who say that his op-his record on the Texas Supreme Court indicated that he's not sufficiently opposed to abortion rights and affirmative action. He worked for President Bush when he was the governor of Texas, and later served as the president's White House counsel. The attorney general-Gonzales-of course, is a longtime friend of the president. The president said he's also upset about attacks on his attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, and added that he feels no pressure from various special interest groups to put anybody on the high court.
That gives you a sense of the time span we're talking about.
WILLIAMS: Well, in a telephone interview with USA Today yesterday, the president said he's only beginning to look at a handful of candidates and will take, quote, "the next few weeks to review their records." He added that he then plans to interview the candidates himself. MONTAGNE: And what has the president to say so far about his deliberations? So it's-in terms of anticipation, I'd say he'll take a few days from there-from-so it's from mid-to-late July, and it's probably in the end the case that he'll hold off on a formal announcement until late July or early August. The president will be meeting with Senators Frist and Reid and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, on July 11th at the White House, engaging in the practice of advice and consent with the Senate on these matters. Harriet Miers, who is the White House counsel, is preparing documents, dossiers, if you will, on several possible nominees that the president will take with him as he travels. Right now, though, the earliest day for an appointment-nomination, I should say-would by July 10th. He was at Camp David over the weekend, Renee. WILLIAMS: Well, the president's already started doing some research. MONTAGNE: When is the announcement from the White House likely to come on this replacement?
0 kommentar(er)
