Roll Call: (subscription req'd) White House officials have begun quietly circulating among key Senators a short list of potential replacements for
September 8, 2007

Roll Call: (subscription req'd)

White House officials have begun quietly circulating among key Senators a short list of potential replacements for outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, one that appears aimed at avoiding a lengthy confirmation fight with Senate Democrats, according to senior GOP and Democratic aides.[..]

According to senior Republican and Democratic leadership aides, the White House has floated six potential replacements -- former Solicitor General Ted Olson; former Attorney General Bill Barr; former Deputy Attorney General George Terwilliger; D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Laurence Silberman; former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson; and Michael Mukasey, a former judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.[..]

Silberman, on the other hand, said a senior Democratic leadership aide,would "have a good chance of confirmation." The 71-year old jurist was appointed to the D.C. Court of Appeals by Ronald Reagan in 1985, and took senior status in 2000. As a senior judge, his departure would not create a vacancy in the circuit.

I'd like to know who this "senior Democratic" aide is, because if Silberman is the kind of candidate that the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee would have no problem confirming (Dianne Feinstein, I'm talking about you. I'm still not over your Southwick vote), we're all in a lot of trouble.

Is the name Silberman unfamiliar to you? The cases that he's had a big hand in shouldn't be: overturning Oliver North's conviction; discrediting Anita Hill; negotiating for the Iranian hostages' return on behalf of the Republican Party and Reagan (while Carter was still President); and the Starr investigation. Could you find a bigger partisan hack?

In fact, his partisanship runs so deep that recovering and reformed former Republican David Brock wrote specifically about Silberman in his book, Blinded by the Right--which was not refuted--and was used by the Alliance for Justice to protest his appointment to federal court. (.pdf) PfAW has an excellent recap of Silberman's neo-con bona fides as well.

I'd strongly suggest you contact members of the Judiciary Committee to let them know your feelings about such a divisive figure to replace Gonzales.

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