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Supreme Court Announcement Tonight, White House Says
By Peter Baker, Fred Barbash and William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 19, 2005; 1:18 PM
The president is set to announce his Supreme Court nominee tonight at 9 p.m. ET, according to spokesman Scott McClellan.
The name of the nominee remained unknown. While many Republican strategists are anticipating that his choice will be Judge Edith Clement of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, other observers were cautious about speculating.
The leading female contenders, according to GOP strategists, are Clement, Judges Edith Hollan Jones, and Priscilla R. Owen, all of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit; Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit; and Karen Williams of the 4th Circuit.
Jones, admired by many conservatives as a "strict constructionist" in interpreting the Constitution, was the runner-up to David H. Souter when President George H.W. Bush made his first court appointment in 1990. She has expressed strong opposition to Roe v. Wade , the decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
Owen and Brown were just confirmed to the appellate bench, after long Democratic delays, as part of a May deal to end a partisan showdown over judicial filibusters. If Bush picks either of them, strategists said, the White House will argue that the Senate could hardly reject the nomination months after approving the same person for a lower-court post. But such a move would be seen as provocative by Democrats who reluctantly dropped their filibuster against those two.
"I'm comfortable where we are in the process," the president said shortly after noon, during an appearance with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. "The best way to put it is I'll let you know when I'm ready to tell you who it is."
"I've heard nothing official, but it certainly does look like it," said a Republican strategist with close ties to the White House. "The word has gone out that we should be ready today. And the signs are all pointing to Clement."
The subject of most speculation today was Clement, 57, who served for 10 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana before being elevaned.
She was nominated to that court by President George H.W. Bush in October 1991 and also promptly confirmed by the Senate. In 2001 she served as chief judge of the District Court.
Clement was born in Birmingham, Ala., and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama in 1969 and a law degree from the Tulane University School of Law in 1972.
She was a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Herbert W. Christenberry in the Eastern District of Louisiana.
From 1975 until she became a judge in 1991, Clement worked in private practice in New Orleans, specializing in maritime law. She represented oil companies, insurance companies and the marine services industry in cases before federal courts.
She is a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization.
Clement has a reputation among lawyers as a no-nonsense judge who insists on professionalism in her courtroom and is strict about deadlines. While she is known as a judicial conservative, she also has been known to lean toward the defense in civil cases.
By Peter Baker, Fred Barbash and William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 19, 2005; 1:18 PM
The president is set to announce his Supreme Court nominee tonight at 9 p.m. ET, according to spokesman Scott McClellan.
The name of the nominee remained unknown. While many Republican strategists are anticipating that his choice will be Judge Edith Clement of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, other observers were cautious about speculating.
The leading female contenders, according to GOP strategists, are Clement, Judges Edith Hollan Jones, and Priscilla R. Owen, all of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit; Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit; and Karen Williams of the 4th Circuit.
Jones, admired by many conservatives as a "strict constructionist" in interpreting the Constitution, was the runner-up to David H. Souter when President George H.W. Bush made his first court appointment in 1990. She has expressed strong opposition to Roe v. Wade , the decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
Owen and Brown were just confirmed to the appellate bench, after long Democratic delays, as part of a May deal to end a partisan showdown over judicial filibusters. If Bush picks either of them, strategists said, the White House will argue that the Senate could hardly reject the nomination months after approving the same person for a lower-court post. But such a move would be seen as provocative by Democrats who reluctantly dropped their filibuster against those two.
"I'm comfortable where we are in the process," the president said shortly after noon, during an appearance with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. "The best way to put it is I'll let you know when I'm ready to tell you who it is."
"I've heard nothing official, but it certainly does look like it," said a Republican strategist with close ties to the White House. "The word has gone out that we should be ready today. And the signs are all pointing to Clement."
The subject of most speculation today was Clement, 57, who served for 10 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana before being elevaned.
She was nominated to that court by President George H.W. Bush in October 1991 and also promptly confirmed by the Senate. In 2001 she served as chief judge of the District Court.
Clement was born in Birmingham, Ala., and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama in 1969 and a law degree from the Tulane University School of Law in 1972.
She was a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Herbert W. Christenberry in the Eastern District of Louisiana.
From 1975 until she became a judge in 1991, Clement worked in private practice in New Orleans, specializing in maritime law. She represented oil companies, insurance companies and the marine services industry in cases before federal courts.
She is a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization.
Clement has a reputation among lawyers as a no-nonsense judge who insists on professionalism in her courtroom and is strict about deadlines. While she is known as a judicial conservative, she also has been known to lean toward the defense in civil cases.
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