... and the posts grow short when you reach September

Two posts this month, not counting this one. It certainly wasn't from lack of subject matter; I just wasn't feeling the blog for the past few weeks.

I listened to the Roberts confirmation hearings in the Judiciary committee and the floor deliberation leading up to the vote. For an interesting analysis of the Roberts vote (as well as the Bork Senate vote and other votes of interest on judicial nominees, such as the cloture vote for the Fortas nomination) see this page from Keith Poole's Voteview.

There's a lot of speculation about the nominee for O'Connor's vacancy, who may be announced sometime today, although I think it's more likely that they'll let the Roberts confirmation have the weekend news cycle and wait until early next week. On the question of who that nominee will be, one of my favorite law blogs, Underneath Their Robes, speculates that Maureen Mahoney might be the pick. Mahoney has been referred to in some circles as a "female John Roberts" much to the chagrin of those of us who call Roberts the "male Maureen Mahoney." Article III Groupie, the author of UTR, also notes that Karen Williams is going high on Tradesports. Williams, as I recall, wrote for the 4th circuit that Miranda v Arizona had been overruled by the Crime Control and Safe Streets Act back in the late 60s, a conclusion that made conservatives very happy until it was reversed by the USSC in 2000.

A bunch of the speculated leading candidates are being profiled by ACS blog. One of their names, Arizona CJ Ruth McGregor, seems a likely pick if Bush follows through with a Roberts strategy, since McGregor, like Roberts, once clerked for the justice she'd be replacing. Yeah, I know, Roberts was initially picked to replace O'Connor, but the speed with which he was moved over to the Rehnquist seat strongly indicates that they had been considering him for CJ the entire time. Personally, I'd like to see Bush pick one of the Bodacious Babes of the Bench. For more, sometimes creepy info about these and other superhotties of the federal judiciary, see here.