Thursday, July 21, 2005

Longhorn Lawyers Need Not Apply

Here's a tidbit that will affect the next Supreme Court vacancy and which I forgot about during the run-up to the President's nomination of Judge Roberts until my source reminded me: George W. Bush was rejected by the University of Texas Law School.

My source clerked for a prominent Republican judge in Texas who has connections to this White House. My source says that the rejection has fueled a certain disdain for Longhorn Lawyers by the President. Thus, while governor of Texas from 1995-2001, George W. Bush did not appoint a University of Texas Law School graduate to the Texas Supreme Court. And the President has not appointed a UTex law grad to the federal bench.

Why is this important? Two of the main candidates for the previous opening on the Supreme Court, and a third that The Monk likes as a Chief Justice pick, are all UTex law grads: Edith Jones, Emilio Garza and Wallace Jefferson (the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court). Too bad. All three are staunch conservatives who would be great replacements for Stevens or Rehnquist.

Even worse, Alberto Gonzales is a Harvard Law grad, therefore if the President is set on appointing a Latino to the Supreme Court when Rehnquist retires (or Stevens leaves), the President may be more than happy to appoint Gonzales over Garza. Ugh.

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