Redstate

O'Connor resigns within the next 10 days.  Bush nominates Gonzalez to replace her.

Around Labor Day, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who is known to have health problems, steps aside.  Assuming the Democrats used up most of their ammo on the first fight, Bush uses this opportunity to nominate a true conservative like Luttig.

Rehnquist decides to hang on for...another year.  Or more.

On Drudge Report Radio, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal says that Al Gonzales is NOT on the short list for a Supreme Court nomination.

In December of 2003, people were making hay of the visit to the White House by Rehnquist.

Probably just wanted to drop in and say hi.

I am not going to lose any sleep over O'Connor rumors until I here it directly from Scott McClellan's lips.

And as for Ginsburg, same deal.

I think it's safe to say that a Rehnquist retirement is likely at this point (though not inevitable).

The LA Times has a great write up of the possible Rehnquist replacements.

For the record, I hope that Bush replaces all S.C. retirees with real conservatives.  I think Alberto Gonzalez is a great AG but I hope that he doesn't get nominated for the Supreme Court.

Bush could nominate Samuel Alito if he wants to nominate a Latino.  I really like Luttig, Wilkerson, John Roberts, and McConnell.

Any one of them would be great.

And I've heard that Rehnquist's clerk, Sally Rider, is very sharp.  If she's conservative, I hope Bush picks her to replace O'Connor.  Though Justice Priscilla Owen would be just as good.

The liberals are going to go all out even if Bush nominates a moderate like Gonzalez.  If your going to get bad press no matter what, you might as well put a conservative on the Court.

Ha.  I have a hard time believing Drudge has the inside track on anything.  That said, Gonzales seems a bit fresh faced for Supreme Court.  He's barely been Attorney General for a year and getting into that position caught alot of flak in and of itself.

I like this speculation from Novak's Monday column:

For example, why the torrent of Gonzales leaks from a White House extraordinarily adept at holding back the president's intended nominations? It looks like a trial balloon, but there are also suspicions that Gonzales's name has been floated by critics in order to shoot him down.

The Chicago Tribune has an article from Sunday that says Luttig and Roberts are the short list.

By Jan Crawford Greenburg

Washington Bureau

Published June 26, 2005

WASHINGTON -- When Mike Luttig stood up as a groomsman in John Roberts' wedding here nine years ago, more than a few people could have predicted they again would someday be sharing the spotlight.

They'd been young leaders in the Reagan and Bush administrations, and both had made deep impressions as being exceedingly smart and exceptionally well-disciplined. Each was the first in his family to become a lawyer, and both had clerked on the Supreme Court.

On that July day in 1996, Luttig was on his way to becoming one of the nation's most prominent federal appeals court judges. Roberts was building a record as one of the best appellate lawyers to argue before the Supreme Court.

They've worked for some of the same important people, crossed the same prestigious paths. They've been friends more than 20 years, since their days together in the Reagan administration.

But now they find themselves competitors, standing in a spotlight that soon could shine only on one. Federal appeals court Judges J. Michael Luttig and John Roberts have emerged as two of the leading contenders to take over the center seat of the U.S. Supreme Court if Chief Justice William Rehnquist should retire.

Wilkinson and Alito were also considered according to the article.

 From the Trib:

A senior White House official cautioned the Tribune that the list has not been formally pared down to Luttig and Roberts and that others remain under consideration. Those include federal appeals court Judges Samuel Alito and J. Harvie Wilkinson, as well as Gonzales, a longtime and trusted adviser to the president, according to a highly placed administration source.

Gonzales has been actively involved in the interviewing process, as has White House Counsel Harriet Miers, according to several sources close to the process. Bush adviser Karl Rove has been involved in the discussions over the prospective nominee, administration and outside sources said.

It seems to me that the dynamics of the next few SC nomination fights will be altered in our favor by some amount — and I don't know how much — by Kelo.

The "Land Rights" folks are well-organized and active. I just don't know how big a bat they swing. But because of Kelo, they are going to be in this in a way that they would not have been otherwise.

Democrats have been planning a nomination fight that is essentially a struggle over abortion. But that isn't what they are going to get. If the Land Rights people can make enough noise, "Homeowners" will become engaged, and they are a much larger group than abortion activists on either side. And they will be looking for somebody a lot more like Rehnquist and a lot less like Stevens.

This is serendipitous, but we might as well take advantage of it. In particular, it may be possible to get a more conservative justice than we would get otherwise by vetting on the subject of land rights. If a suspected tendency to overturn Roe v Wade comes along for free, then that's a twofer. But lead with the property rights.

My $ 0.02

He is very much White.

Not going to be a very good choice for the Latino community.

I still think that all the talk about Rehnquist is misplaced.  I think he is not the most likely retirement.

And I wouldn't be surprised if none of the justices announce their plans today just to spite all the people who are buzzing like vultures around the Court this morning.

Making the Democrats argue against a homeowner keeping his/her home is a winner for us.

All though because Slate refers to Benjamin Nathan Cardozo as a "Hispanic" (who is actually of Portuguese descent), I'm not sure what "Hispanic" means anymore.

When I said, "Samuel Alito," I meant to say "Emilio Garza."

My bad.