Bush to Name New Justice Tonight

USA Today and others are reporting that President Bush will announce his nominee to fill the seat of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in an address to the nation at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The White House is asking networks to carry his remarks live.

Speculation is that the President will nominate 57-year-old Edith Brown Clement, a former U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana who now sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Just in case she is chosen, what kind of judge is she?

Though her judicial philosophy is somewhat fuzzy, she has indicated tendencies of strict constructionism, a philosophy that usually means interpreting the Constitution narrowly and with original intent in mind rather as a "living document" to be stretched to meet progressive ideas. When Bush (43) nominated her to the Appeals Court in 2001, she was confirmed 99-0. She is a member of the conservative Federalist Society.

Clement has been targeted for dislike by the left-leaning People for the American Way and the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) finds her record "seriously troubling," placing the burden on her confirmation testimony to dispels doubts about her commitment to "protecting personal freedom," i.e., abortion.

Conservative researchers are concerned, however about a statement she made during her 2001 Senate confirmation hearing. She told the Judiciary Committee that the Supreme Court "has clearly held that the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution includes the right to have an abortion" and that "the law is settled in that regard." That statement sounds more like the stare decisis ("let is stand") philosophy that pervaded the career of O'Connor.

Judge Clement was born in Birmingham and graduated from Alabama. Her law degree is from Tulane. Before taking a seat in the bench (1975) she represented oil companies, insurance companies and the marine services industry.

Other possibilities being talked about in Washington include the other female contenders: Edith Hollan Jones and Priscilla R. Owen (with Clement also 5th Circuit Court of Appeals) newly appointed Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit; and Columbia College and USC Law graduate Karen Williams of our own 4th Circuit.