Washington – President Bush said Tuesday that his list of candidates to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was “wide open,” and he jokingly but pointedly singled out Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Bush’s mention of Gonzales as a possibility, in comments to reporters at the end of a Cabinet meeting, fueled concern among conservatives, who were already mobilizing against the attorney general. Conservatives say that Gonzales has not shown himself to be sufficiently opposed to abortion rights and that nominating him would miss an opportunity to move the court fundamentally to the right.
Bush said that he had yet to make up his mind and that he would “take a good, long look at who should replace Justice O’Connor.” But he mentioned only one name, that of Gonzales, a longtime friend and aide.
“The list is wide open, which should create some good speculation here in Washington,” Bush said to laughter in the Cabinet Room, with the attorney general sitting directly across from him. “And make sure you notice when I said that, I looked right at Al Gonzales, who can really create speculation.”
The president’s remark came as the Senate delayed until next week confirmation hearings for Judge John Roberts, who had been nominated to fill O’Connor’s seat but who was selected by Bush on Monday as his nominee for chief justice after William Rehnquist died Saturday. The hearings on Roberts’ nomination to O’Connor’s seat had been scheduled to begin Tuesday.
The White House has already signaled that Bush will not announce a selection of a new replacement for O’Connor this week. The president went further on Tuesday, suggesting that he would hold off on a selection at least until Roberts’ nomination reached the Senate floor, if not until he was confirmed.
It has never been clear how seriously Bush has considered Gonzales for the Supreme Court, and it was hard to tell if the president’s remarks were calculated to send a signal or were simply a reflection of his sense of humor and his disdain for Washington guessing games.
By mentioning Gonzales, however lightheartedly, Bush increased the likelihood that conservative groups would reprise and perhaps intensify their largely behind-the-scenes effort earlier this summer to convince the White House that selecting Gonzales for O’Connor’s seat would be a betrayal of his most ardent supporters.
“Would any of his aides have the nerve to tell him that as Supreme Court jurists go, Gonzales would be mediocre – and not a solid bet to move the court in a constitutionalist direction?” William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, wrote in an article posted Tuesday afternoon on that conservative magazine’s website.
Conservatives have been hoping for years to replace O’Connor, a swing vote on abortion, immigration, religion and other divisive social issues, with a strong conservative.