Shrub Poised to Pick Court Nominee Tomorrow

[dissention]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...103000910.html

President Bush appears poised to announce a new Supreme Court nomination today, moving quickly after a weekend of consultations to put forward a replacement for the ill-fated choice of Harriet Miers in hopes of recapturing political momentum, according to Republicans close to the White House.

Judging by the names the White House floated by political allies in recent days, Bush seems ready to pick a candidate with a long track record of conservative jurisprudence -- one who would mollify the Republican base, whose opposition to Miers's nomination helped scuttle her chances. Several GOP strategists said the most likely choice seemed to be federal appeals judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., with judges J. Michael Luttig and Alice M. Batchelder also in the running.

Any of the three would draw support from many conservative activists, lawyers and columnists who vigorously attacked Miers as an underqualified presidential crony. At the same time, the three have years of court rulings that liberals could use against them. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday that he has already warned the White House that nominating Alito -- who is often compared to Justice Antonin Scalia -- would "create a lot of problems."

Republican lawmakers and strategists said a swift nomination with a consolidated party behind Bush would represent an important first step for the president in a strategy to pull out himself of a political ditch. With the withdrawal Thursday of Miers's nomination, the mounting death toll in Iraq and the indictment Friday of top vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Bush has hit an all-time low in public approval ratings and wants to start a new chapter in his troubled second term.