Responding to a Comment...

Quick response to a Comment on this earlier post:

Bush solicts Supreme Court Advice
-Top Senate Democrats floated the names of potential candidates for the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a meeting with President Bush, describing them as the type of nominee who could avoid a fierce confirmation battle. Looks like you were too quick to criticize Bush...

I saw that story last week. It was nice of him to have that meeting. I obviously hope that it was an attempt at real dialogue, and not just a nice photo op for appearances. I guess I'd feel better if it was leaked that Bush had called key Senate leaders and discussed this with them, instead of making it a big national story which he benefits by. But maybe I'm just being too harsh. I guess we'll see if the names floated by the Senators in that meeting (Sotomayor, Prado, and Hinojosa) are taken seriously.

There are key differences, as I see it, between Bush's meeting last week and the scenario described by Orin Hatch. First, Clinton made a call - completely unpublicized, not a media-manufactured event - to the minority leader. Bush invited Senate leaders to the White House for a photo-op. Hatch delivered specific suggestions to Clinton - which turned out to be the next two (and last two) Supreme Court nominees - Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Steven Breyer. Leahy floated the names of three Hispanic candidates - Sonoia Sotomayor (2d Cir.), Ed Prado (5th Cir.) {also see draftprado.org}, and Ricardo Hinojosa (S. Dist. Tex.) - we will see if one or more of these suggestions will be taken seriously.