Gonzales is really the only candidate who satisfies each and every one of the president's substantive criteria.

220

My own view is that we probably will not get any of the individuals who are the very top of the Democrats' hit list, ... I think he's going to try to repeat his experience with John Roberts ? someone who can be confirmed without touching off battle royale.

218

He is genuinely committed to diversity on the federal bench. It was explicit. He wanted his staff to find qualified women and minorities.

189

She's a very able lawyer who is the person currently charged with carrying forward the president's search for judicial conservatives, so she certainly understands what the president looks for in his nominees. I suspect she'd be confirmed quite easily.

188

It's awfully hard to read the tea leaves this time. But the harder I've thought about this, the more I come back to Judge Gonzales as the most likely choice. I'm not terribly confident in that prediction but it's the one I've decided I'm making.

187

The case they [the justices] thought they had may not be the case they have now.

155

The overall lesson of the two nominations taken together is that there is considerable safety in drawing from the very small pool of people who are universally considered qualified for appointment.

111

They're probably going to turn back to the Roberts model.

104

Given the Cheney precedent and the president's well-known loyalty to his aides, it's certainly possible the president could turn to Harriet.

88