Uncertainty builds over Bush high court choice

Vitter vouches for Clement
Cast in the leading role of vouching for Clement if Bush does select her for the high court, is Louisiana freshman Republican Sen. David Vitter.

“I’ve known her for a long time because we were both practicing lawyers in New Orleans,” said Vitter. “I’ve gotten to know her a lot better in the last five or six years since I’ve been in Congress.”

Asked if Clement was conservative in the mold of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, Vitter replied, “I do think she has a solid mainstream conservative judicial philosophy.”

Describing her personality, Vitter said, “She’s a very smart, capable person…. Very professional, very straightforward, runs a very efficient court. Lawyers appreciate that fact.”

Vitter said Clement’s non-controversial record would help her win confirmation. “She hasn’t been the subject of disputed debate already and she has a very significant, substantial record, but I don’t think she has a record that’s going to provoke that sort of heated battle from the extremes,” he added.

Not 'inflammatory'
A Bush choice of Clement would signal that “he is looking for a conservative who is experienced but not one who has been inflammatory in her conduct,” said Lott.

He called her “an OK choice,” in a tone that implied a less than ecstatic endorsement.

But Lott also said, “She may not be boisterous about her position, but I think we can trust her.”

Vitter said some of the anti-abortion groups had called him to seek more information about Clement. “I said I’ve never talked with her directly about abortion, but I feel very comfortable with her judicial philosophy,” Vitter told reporters.

“The main thing I’m looking for is a very solid judicial conservative — meaning somebody who is not going to be an activist, but who’s going to look at the law as written, in my opinion she is exactly that.”

Vitter said he had suggested her name to Bush when he, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and others had dinner with him at the White House the night before O’Connor’s announcement that she was stepping down.

The only remaining questions, assuming Bush selects Clement, are:

• Is there anything lurking in her record that would derail her nomination?
• Will Democrats decide to filibuster her nomination?

Although not threatening a filibuster, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT., the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, complained Tuesday afternoon that Bush had not consulted with Democratic senators sufficiently before making his final choice.

“There has been some reaching out to Democrats but certainly not to the extent that we saw either in Reagan administration or the Clinton administration,” Leahy said.

But a member of the bipartisan group of 14 senators who agreed to not resort to filibusters except in “extraordinary circumstances,” Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said “I’m not aware of any real criticism of the president’s reaching out.”

Most senators were unwilling to talk about Clement or any other potential nominee until after the president announced his choice at 9 p.m.

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