Just Politics

Clement to Supreme Court?

Reports are so rampant that it is likely that the nomination of Edith Brown Clement will surely be announced by President Bush soon.

Edith Brown Clement, 57, is a judge on the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

Clement was nominated by President George H.W. Bush to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in 1991 and was elevated to her current post by the current President Bush Nov. 13, 2001.

She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, April 29, 1948.Her early career included a period clerking for Judge Herbert W. Christenberry at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (1973-1975).

Clement is a graduate of the University of Alabama and Tulane University Law School She worked as a lawyer in private practice in New Orleans for 16 years before beginning her tenure on the federal bench. She specialized in civil litigation involving maritime law, representing oil companies, insurance companies and the marine services industry in cases before federal courts. She is a member of the Federalist Society, an influential conservative legal organization.

As a district judge, Clement presided over such high-profile cases as the 2000 trials of former Louisiana governor Edwin W. Edwards (D) and former state insurance commissioner Jim Brown (D) on fraud charges. Edwards was acquitted; Brown was convicted of lying to the FBI and sentenced to six months in prison.

Lawyers’ comments concerning Clement describe her as a judicial conservative who leans toward the defense in civil cases. She is known as a no-nonsense judge.

Judge Clement is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, the Federal Bar Association, the American Law Institute, the Federalist Society, the Tulane Law School's Inn of Court, and the Committee on the Administrative Office of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

One Blog offers that ‘Clement’ rhymes with ‘right.’

Bush nominates Roberts

While it seemed likely that President Bush would nominate a woman to replace Sandra Day O’Conner, the President walked down the isle with Justice John G. Roberts.

In response Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said, "The president has chosen someone with suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our inquiry."

Roberts, 50, has avoided weighing in on disputed social issues like abortion in the past, but is sure to be queried by Democrats on the Justice Committee during his confirmation hearings.

Roberts co-wrote a brief while serving as legal council to first President Bush that stated, "We continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled." When asked about it during his2003 confirmation hearing for his own views on the matter, Roberts said: "Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land. ... There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."

In making the nomination, Bush cited the fact that Roberts was supported by some 146 members of the D.C. Bar which were comprised of both Democrats and Republicans who had served different Presidents in high capacities.

However, Roberts path to the bench was not a smooth one. He was first nominated for the bench in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush. Roberts was never given a hearing nor confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate. He was nominated by the current President Bush in 2001, but the nomination again died. Bush re-nominated him in January 2003 and the Senate confirmed his nomination May 8, 2003, by voice vote.

He graduated from Harvard College, summa cum laude, in 1976, and received his law degree, magna cum laude, in 1979 from the Harvard Law School, where he was managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. Following graduation he clerked for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the following year for then-Associate Justice William H. Rehnquist.

Roberts then served as Special Assistant to United States Attorney General William French Smith. In 1982 President Reagan appointed Roberts to the White House Staff as Associate Counsel to the President. He served in the first Bush administration arguing cases before the Supreme Court from 1989-93.

Roberts has presented oral arguments before the Supreme Court in some thirty-two cases, covering the full range of the Court, including admiralty, antitrust, arbitration, environmental law, First Amendment, health care law, Indian law, bankruptcy, tax, regulation of financial institutions, administrative law, labor law, federal jurisdiction and procedure, interstate commerce, civil rights, and criminal law.

Roberts is expected to continue the court’s leaning towards state’s rights. He is known to have stated that, "We have gotten to the point these days where we think the only way we can show we're serious about a problem is if we pass a federal law, whether it is the Violence Against Women Act or anything else. The fact of the matter is conditions are different in different states, and state laws can be more relevant."