Unity Only Goes So Far

Meanwhile, press blogger Jay Rosen thinks columnist Robert Novak should be shunned until he comes clean.

Supreme Court Watch

Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post: "A week after Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement, the White House and its allies are preparing for the possibility that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist might soon follow suit, opening up a second vacancy to fill and scrambling the politics of this summer's brewing nomination battle. . . .

"Advisers inside and outside the White House are discussing how to select two potential nominees, how they might match or balance each other and how to sequence their confirmation hearings. . . .

"Twin vacancies would present Bush with an intriguing choice: Does he use the opportunity to appoint two reliable conservatives who would shift the court away from what he sees as improper judicial activism on divisive issues such as abortion, religion in public life and gay rights? Or does he try to balance competing impulses by filling one seat with a conservative who would strictly interpret the Constitution and the other with his friend Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, who is less favored by the right but would be the first Hispanic on the nation's highest court?"

Jim Hughes of the Denver Post caught up with Gonzales.

" 'This is an important decision, and I understand there's a lot of pent-up anticipation,' Gonzales said in an interview after meeting with Justice Department officials in Denver. 'People have been waiting for 11 years, and so people have very strong views about this. This is America, and people have the right to speak their mind. It's all part of the process, as far as I'm concerned.'

"A longtime friend and adviser to the president, Gonzales has been answering questions about the Supreme Court for years, he said. And though he would not rule out the possibility of being nominated, saying that was up to Bush, his answer now is the same it's always been, he said.

" 'I've been asked since 2001 whether or not I'd consider going on the court, and I've consistently said, 'I'm not a candidate for the Supreme Court' -- and that remains true today,' Gonzales said. 'I love being attorney general. My job, currently, is to help the president make this decision.' "

Gillespie Watch

Thomas B. Edsall writes in The Washington Post: "Ed Gillespie, who will help promote President Bush's future nominee to a vacancy on the Supreme Court, is a top-tier lobbyist who represents a host of clients with direct and indirect interests in the outcome of Supreme Court decisions. . . .

"The designation of a full-time campaign manager for the as-yet-to-be-named nominee reflects a White House decision to aggressively challenge a major liberal campaign already underway to defeat any of the nominees described as having a place on Bush's 'short list' of candidates. The Gillespie pick marks the first full-scale bid to mobilize the political muscle of the Republican Party and its allied networks of constituent groups in the business and religious communities.

"Gillespie's assignment will be to use the tools and techniques of a presidential campaign to put together a conservative political machine equipped to take on the alliance of groups on the political left that defeated the 1987 nomination of Robert H. Bork and nearly defeated Clarence Thomas, who won Senate confirmation by a close 52 to 48 vote in 1991."

The White House formally announced today that Gillespie is coming on board, in an unpaid position.