The Malcontent

Gonzales=Secret Code for Hispanic Nominee?

Wonkette has this morning's White House pool report in which President Bush jokingly (perhaps) seems to throw Alberto Gonzales' name back into the SCOTUS mix.  (Then again, Bush was sitting directly across from the AG when he made his remark about "looking right at" him.)

But could this actually be a tip-off that a Hispanic nominee really is on the way?  I tend to doubt that it will be Gonzales himself, given the hackles his potential nomination originally raised on the right.  (See here, here, and here, for starters.)  So I will keep my Martinez mini-boomlet precariously afloat.

I think the chances of this president naming a nominee to the left of Roberts are virtually nil.  But perhaps friendship and loyalty will trump the once-in-a-generation chance to steer the court hard to starboard.

Q: Why Did the Cubano Cross the Road?

A: To get to the Supreme Court (from the U.S. Capitol, that is).

So will Sen. Mel Martinez become the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice?  The conservative Newsmax.com says a "good source" tells them that Martinez's buddy, a guy known as "the President," just might make it happen.

If you think it's just idle speculation, remember that Newsmax also made the Roberts-for-CJ call weeks ago.

To get completely myopic for a moment, it's unclear exactly what this would mean for the gay community, but it certainly doesn't augur well.  Despite having had two (acknowledged) gay campaign staffers, Martinez has an anti-gay record.  (Some might argue that the previous link points only to support of the FMA as evidence of an "anti-gay" record, but there is a difference between those who merely voted for the FMA and those, like Martinez, who went out of their way to support it and campaign on it.  And although I have known many Republican gay staffers, it takes cojones to hire one who is himself so ardently anti-gay.)

Of course, this would demolish my Edith boomlet.  But it doesn't take a genius to think that an "under-represented" group would be a shoo-in, following the nomination of a white male Chief Justice.