Chick List
A look at the women who may replace Justice O'Connor.
BY MELANIE KIRKPATRICK
Sunday, September 25, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

If Edith Jones is nominated for the Supreme Court, at least she'll know what she's in for. The confirmation process for federal judges has deteriorated into "trench warfare," she told The American Enterprise magazine in June. "Every time I think it can't get any worse, it does."

John Roberts's confirmation may be the exception that proves Judge Jones's rule. During his hearings, Sens. Arlen Specter and Dianne Feinstein asked insulting questions about his Catholicism; Ted Kennedy called his Reagan-era writings "mean-spirited"; and several Democrats roughed him up over his views on civil rights. By modern standards, that's a love fest.

But the next confirmation is another matter. In selecting a nominee, one factor the White House must weigh is who would have the best chance of surviving what is sure to be a fight and, probably, a filibuster attempt.

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