Bush to announce nominee to SCOTUS

And we shall see what the President is made of really. He has insisted that he would appoint "strict constructionist" judges to the Supeme Court -- the likes of Scalia and Thomas. To do so would mean that he would have to appoint someone who has a proven track record as a Strinct constructionist.

The leading candidates seem to be Edith Jones and Joy Clement. Those in the know say that Jones is the most clearly defined "conservative" candidate. Not that Clement is not conservative; she is, rather, underdefined. Kind of like David Souter was. YIKES!

Hadley Arkes has a very good article HERE. on this very issue, which I thinks really cuts to the heart of the political matter. He suggests that the choice might tell us something about the nature of the President and the Republican Party in its outlook on the importance of the SCOTUS and at least one of the tenets that it says it holds dear.

the willingness to go with the candidate without a crisp, philosophic definition may mark the willingness to act, once again, within the framework defined by the other side: It begins with the reluctance to admit that we have ever discussed the matter of abortion with this candidate, or that she has any settled views on the subject. In other words, it begins with the premise that the right to abortion is firmly anchored as an orthodoxy; that those who would question it are unwilling to admit in public that they bear any such threatening doubts. The willingness to accept premises of that kind, as the framework for confirmation, may account for a Republican party that has brought forth as jurists the team of Stevens, O’Connor, Kennedy, and Souter.