Nevada governor withdraws name from high court consideration

[webfact]

Nevada governor withdraws name from high court consideration
By MICHELLE RINDELS and MARY CLARE JALONICK

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said Thursday he is not interested in being considered for the Supreme Court vacancy — a decision that foils one route President Barack Obama might have had to breach Senate Republicans' planned blockade of any election-year confirmation.

Sandoval, a Republican and the state's first Hispanic governor, issued a statement the day after news broke that the White House was considering him as a potential replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

"Earlier today, I notified the White House that I do not wish to be considered at this time for possible nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States," wrote Sandoval, an abortion rights supporter and former federal judge. "The notion of being considered for a seat on the highest court in the land is beyond humbling, and I am incredibly grateful to have been mentioned."

He offered no reason for his decision but said he also expressed his position to senators Harry Reid, Dean Heller and Mitch McConnell.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to comment, saying he would not offer detailed updates on the president's short list.

The Senate's vetting process for any nominee is expected to be viciously political, if hearings take place at all. Regardless of which nominee Obama settles on, "this nomination will be determined by whoever wins the presidency in the fall," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Recommending a popular, moderate Republican would test the unified GOP caucus's insistence that voters in November and the next president should make the lifetime appointment.

Democrats have tried to keep a daily focus on the issue. On Thursday, about two dozen Democratic senators stood outside the Supreme Court and called on Republicans to consider an Obama nominee.

"We have obstruction that is on steroids," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Earnest said Obama is still reviewing material on potential candidates and consulting with lawmakers. The White House has contacted the office of every Senate Judiciary Committee member, he said.

Earnest said the president plans to host a meeting Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the judiciary panel.

Criticism of Sandoval emerged from both sides of the aisle in the 24 hours after his name was mentioned. Liberal groups took issue with his positions on abortion, which he described during his 2010 race as pro-choice but against late-term abortion and federal funding on abortion.

"Sandoval's checkered history on reproductive freedom should raise some serious flags — it certainly has for us," NARAL Pro-Choice America said in a statement.

Sandoval's critics at home have more often come from the right than the left. In November 2012, he became the first Republican governor to expand Medicaid as part of Obama's health care law, drawing criticism from conservative members of his party.

Sandoval has raised taxes and declined to join state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a Republican, in a federal lawsuit challenging U.S. regulations that protect the sage grouse. He has argued that negotiations with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and others in the Obama administration offer a better chance of easing land-use restrictions for Nevada ranchers, miners and others than a court battle.

He is limited to two terms as governor and is set to leave office in early 2019. He announced last year that he will not run for Reid's seat in November. Reid is retiring, and Sandoval would have been a strong favorite.

Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., last week mused that the next justice could be a Nevadan. He said Thursday he hopes Sandoval's name will come up again in the future.

"As a friend and former colleague of Governor Sandoval's, I believe he is eminently qualified for this position," Heller said.

Sandoval's consideration was first reported by The Washington Post.
___

Jalonick reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Kathleen Hennessy in Washington and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-02-26

[Pinot]

I doubt the Governor was seriously considered. Why take a chance on the guy ever voting with the conservative side of the court?

The Democrats are in the driver's seat. They might get a more conservative justice if Obama choses now or a more liberal judge when HRC chooses.

Republicans are screwed either way. The conservative majority on the court has done enough damage. It's over.

Now or later the court is in for big changes, everything the wingnuts stood for is out the window.

Thank Buddha, that miserable old sad excuse for a justice is dead.

[Chicog]

It doesn't matter who Obama nominates, the result will be the same.

He should just pick someone who looks fine to the public, and let the Republicans obstruct as usual.

[hawker9000]

Yeah, socialist drones from the People's 9th US Circuit no doubt drooling for the chance. Just one more nail in Hillary's campaign coffin if she voices any support.

[Publicus]

Harry Reid and the White House are laffing their off.

Republicans in Washington aren't the only ones who can play games.

Sandoval was put into a corner by Reid and had to jump out the window.

No one can remember when was the last time someone in the opposite political party was not nominated for scotus by a potus yet named in a conscious leak then had to actively state in writing he's not interested in being a candidate for the Court.

While the absolute obstructionists Republicans in the Senate and nationally scratched their asses heads trying to figure out what wuz going on.

Republicans in the Senate now suddenly realise they're not so in charge of this as they'd thought.

And now for our next act we will...

[Publicus]

Yeah, socialist drones from the People's 9th US Circuit no doubt drooling for the chance. Just one more nail in Hillary's campaign coffin if she voices any support.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals is stacked with rightwingers and always has been. It's the most 'conservative' federal judicial circuit in the US.

This is because US Senators from the affected states in a judicial circuit have a say, often a determining say, who potus will nominate to a federal bench. It is a tradition and it's called 'Senatorial Courtesy."

Rightwhinge Republican senators have a lot of say who gets appointed to a federal bench. In the 5th Circuit, the states whose senators have a central role in appointments are Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana. All three are rightwing states. Senators from these three states have a major say, often a determining say, in who gets a judgeship on the appeals court and to the many US District Courts in the states.

Congress thankfully removed some rightwhinge states from the 5th Circuit: Alabama, Georgia and then also Florida. This has had the effect of limiting the scope and impact of the majority of judges in the Circuit who are conservatives or rightwhingers.

It is this most conservative judicial circuit btw that has declared President Obama's immigration executive action illegal, which has sent the case to the present SCOTUS for a final and ultimate ruling. The rightwhinge Republicans made sure they brought the immigration case in this, the rightwing dominated 5th Circuit.