Bush to Nominate Supreme Court Justice Tonight

[OnBackground]

CQ reports that the President will nominate a Supreme Court Justice tonight at 9:00. It was said that they were going to try to lay low until August to give their nominee less exposure to potential attacks and research. Maybe they decided that Karl Rove is the one who really needs the cover.

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from Congressional Quarterly's midday update:
President Bush will announce his nominee for the Supreme Court at 9 p.m., triggering what is widely expected to be a ferocious confirmation battle over a successor to retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Word of the impending nomination set lobbying machinery revving all over Washington.
Bush and his aides in recent days have parried frenzied speculation about the identity of the president’s choice. “I have thought about a variety of people, people from different walks of life, some of whom I’ve known before, some of whom I had never met before,” Bush said today after meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. “I do have an obligation to think about people from different backgrounds, but who share the same philosophy, people who will not legislate from the bench.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., was summoned to the White House last night as he was on his way to a softball game on the Mall. His committee will be working to meet Bush’s target for confirming a new justice by the Oct. 3 start of the next Supreme Court term.