| Richard Foot | |
| The Ottawa Citizen |
WASHINGTON - The four female justices of Canada's Supreme Court received some unlikely attention here yesterday in the opening days of the political battle to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee that will question and largely determine the success of President George W. Bush's eventual court nominee, said Canada's highest court is a model for the U.S., because of its high number of female judges.
Asked during a television interview on Fox News whether he would like Mr. Bush to nominate another woman to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who announced on July 1 that she would retire, Mr. Leahy said, "I'd like to see the day when the court ends up looking like the rest of America.
"They have nine members of the Supreme Court in Canada. Four of them are women. One of the four is actually chief justice. It's worked very well for them.''
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, appointed by former president Bill Clinton, will be the sole woman on the nine-member U.S. court if Judge O'Connor's replacement is male.
The four female members of the Canadian court are Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, and justices Marie Deschamps, Rosalie Abella and Louise Charron.
Mr. Leahy was one of four senior senators invited to a breakfast at the White House with Mr. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney yesterday as part of the opening manoeuvre in what many expect to be a long, hotly contested struggle -- likely to consume official Washington for most of the summer -- over Mr. Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court.
The breakfast meeting was an effort by Mr. Bush to consult and smooth the nomination waters with the Senate, which must confirm or reject his choice of Judge O'Connor's replacement.
Mr. Leahy said Mr. Bush offered the senators no names of potential nominees yesterday morning. The foursome, however, suggested several names to him -- including those of women and other minorities.
"We did mention several women's names today, several Hispanics' names ... (and) several African Americans,'' said Mr. Leahy. "There are a lot of people that the president could name that would have the support of both Republicans and Democrats, but would also extend diversity on the court.''
Asked her opinion yesterday during a visit to South Africa, Laura Bush said she hoped her husband would appoint another woman to replace Judge O'Connor.
Mr. Bush is holding his cards close to his chest, and may not announce a nominee for several weeks.
"I am going to be deliberate in the process,'' he said at the White House. "When I finally make a decision, it'll be one based upon a lot of research and a lot of thought.''
Fuelling the stakes in the process is continued speculation that U.S. Chief Justice William Rehnquist -- 80 years old and suffering from cancer -- may also step down this summer, giving Mr. Bush the rare power, and the political headache, of two simultaneous Supreme Court appointments.
Republican Senator Arlen Specter, the influential chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, has added to the intrigue by suggesting if Chief Justice Rehnquist retires, Judge O'Connor could be convinced to remain on the court for several more years as the country's first female chief justice. That scenario, he said, would have wide support among both Senate parties.
The most pressing question now is the extent to which the Democrats and the Republicans, who narrowly control the Senate, can work together and, with the White House, make the first Supreme Court confirmation debate in 11 years a congenial and consensual one.
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