Prophecies not to be re-misunderestimated . . .

On the G. Gordon Liddy Show, I just heard WND founder Joseph Farah predict that 4th Circuit Justice Maureen Mahoney will be President Bush's next nominee. From his WND article:

Mahoney is perhaps most famous for representing the University of Michigan before the Supreme Court defending its indefensible affirmative-action program. She wasn't just a hired gun. She really believed in the case. She really believed that government agencies should discriminate against people based on race. She really believed that was constitutional and moral.

She told the university news service: "I'm a Republican, and there's a common misconception that all Republicans oppose affirmative action. I care deeply about the issue."

Mahoney is no stranger to nominations for federal judicial posts. The first President Bush named her to fill a vacancy on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, but the Senate did not act on her nomination before the end of Bush's term.

She seems to be the favorite of liberal analysts hoping for another stealth Supreme Court nominee – someone along the lines of David Souter or Anthony Kennedy or Sandra Day O'Connor. She was No. 1 on Slate.com's "shortlist" of possible Republican nominees who believe in "moderation."

Oh, and by the way, her long list of clients includes the government of Saudi Arabia.

I'd say she's nearly a shoo-in.

Remember the name: Maureen Mahoney. Remember where you heard it first.

I'll remember it. (Not that Farah's predictions are always right, but he did predict that Miers was "going to withdraw her name from consideration before such hearings ever begin.")

But there's something else worth remembering.

(Or re-remembering.)

While it wasn't quite as fervent a prediction as Farah's, Captain Ed also speculated that Maureen Mahoney would be an ideal "stealth" nominee -- and that was on October 2, before Bush announced Miers. Noting that Mahoney's "conservative outlook seems beyond question," he credits MSNBC for having first added the name to the hopper, and said she'd be an ideal Roberts-style nominee:

If anyone wants to look for a surprise candidate, one that could duplicate many of the same problems for the Democrats that the Roberts nomination created, Maureen Mahoney might just be that nominee.

....

....I still prefer Janice Rogers Brown for the nomination. I just wanted to highlight what I think might provide an interesting choice for Bush if he wants to follow the John Roberts model for the next nominee. Mahoney hasn't received a lot of press attention to this point.

With the Miers now withdrawn, Captain Ed's prediction has yet to be proven wrong, and right now it's looking very intriguing.

Me, I'm not much of a clairvoyant (and while I'm hoping for Reynolds/Volokh/Barnett/Kozinski I'd settle for Janice Rogers Brown).

Which means that for now I'll stay on the safe side and predict the nominee will either be Maureen Mahoney, or someone else!

Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, I think two predictions are worth a picture, so here's a picture of Maureen Mahoney:

Mahoney.jpg

Whether looks count (and whether they should) really ought to be another topic.....

MORE: Edith Jones and Alice Batchelder are favorites of Volokh Conspiracy's Todd Zywicki, whose reasoning makes sense to me. Concludes Zywicki,

If the President decides to appoint a woman, it seems obvious that Jones is head-and-shoulders above the pack, with Batchelder making an excellent choice as well. As far as I can see, there are no other candidates in the same league as these two.

posted by Eric on 10.28.05 at 10:48 AM





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Looks do and should count, but I'm opposed to her views. Affirmative action is racism. How can anyone think for one second that there won't be Hell to pay if Bush nominates her? How can anyone imagine that the conservatives, whether social or individualist, who opposed Miers will put up with this nonsense? Is Bush really that stupid? Will he, in order to appease the Democratic minority in Congress, betray -- a second time -- the Republican majority and the people who voted for him?

I share your concerns, Steven. (Just reporting the predictions of others.)

Eric Scheie   ·  October 28, 2005 12:36 PM


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