Ramblings' Journal

A closer look at Edith Clement

Erick at ConfirmThem notes that Edith Clement is the only person on the "short list" of potential SCOTUS nominees to have a private meeting at the White House (at least as far as anyone can determine). Her's was sometime last week.

Clement is known to be pro-defendant in civil rights cases and is like O’Connor on business issues, which means that conservatives will be pleased with her on those issues. There is no indication that Clement takes an expansive reading of the Commerce Clause and every indication that she does, in fact, take the opposite view.

Sources close to the White House tell me that the pick has been made, but are not giving me the name. Third party sources who would be among the first to know are saying that there is every indication that Clement is the pick. In fact, we are beginning to see conservatives get on board and shift from Edith B. Clement having too thin a papertrail to her being “with us.”

No one knows how Clement would vote on the ultimate issue — is abortion a medical procedure subject to state regulation or a constitutional right. I am told that, with the pressing issues currently headed to the court, i.e. partial birth abortion, parental notification, 24 hour waiting periods, the Solomon Amendment, etc. — conservatives do not need to worry about Clement, they need to worry about Justice Kennedy and whether he will continue heading left.

I have been told by multiple parties that, though we know little about Judge Clement’s leanings on social issues, we should make no mistake that her family background is conservative and that her husband is a “loyal” conservative.

According to ConfirmThem, we do know that "United flight 1898 and US Airways flight 590, from New Orleans to Reagan National, both landed at 8:59am this morning. We do not know, however, if Edith Brown Clement was on board en route to the United States Supreme Court."

Sounds like if Clement is the choice, we'll see moonbat Senator Ted "Jabba The Drunk" Kennedy (Beefeater's-MA) turning purple in the face on CNN shortly after the President's speech.

That would be something to see.

We're still on for Bush's announcement at 9 tonight. Be there. Aloha.

Posted by mhking at July 19, 2005 03:44 PM | TrackBack