Tension Mounts as Bush’s High Court Decision Nears

By Paul Strand
Washington Sr. Correpspondent

CBN.com – We may find out who President Bush is nominating to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor as soon as Friday.

There are hints that the President's choice might be a real surprise.

The Senate is set to confirm John Roberts as the next chief justice on Thursday, the Supreme Court reconvenes next week, and O'Connor is anxious to step down, so she can take care of her ailing husband. The President is expected to act quickly.

The White House says it is basically wrapped up the process of consulting with senators about who the next justice should be.

Bush advisers talked to nearly 70 senators and appear to have whittled the list of candidates to about six. What has intrigued outside advisers was the President's comment earlier this week that he has "...thought about people from all walks of life."

Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice says that means Bush might be looking at non-judges, like former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, or maybe a senator.

Democrats have been pleading that whoever it is, it is only fair that Bush pick a moderate like O'Connor, who often was a swing vote in rulings that favored abortion or built the wall between church and state higher.

But conservatives point out that Bill Clinton had no compunctions about replacing conservative pro-life Justice Byron White with the fervently pro-choice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former general counsel of the ACLU and one of the country's leading liberal law scholars.

So many conservatives are pushing hard from the other side, saying Bush pretty much promised more conservative justices in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, and it is time he followed through with that.

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