Associate Justice...Mel Martinez?

I suppose it's not unusual for sitting senators to be mentioned for SCOTUS openings. Texas' Jon Cornyn was talked up quite a bit during the process that ultimately produced John Roberts, and in the few hours between the passing of Chief Justice William Rehnquist Saturday night and President Bush's announcement of Judge Roberts to replace him, even Kansas' Sam Brownback received a tout here and there.

Now, however, Newsmax, in the process of congratulating themselves over having predicted (sort of) Roberts' nomination, is throwing out yet another senatorial name, and not one that has occurred to anybody else, at least to my knowledge: Mel Martinez of Florida:

Now another tidbit we hear from a good source is that Florida Senator Mel Martinez is on the short list to replace retiring Justice O'Connor.

Several factors augur well for a Martinez nomination.

Now serving his first term as Florida's junior senator, Martinez has an impressive background, including a Cabinet-level post in the first Bush Administration, when he was the widely admired secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Moreover, as a refugee from Castro's Cuba who pulled himself up by his bootstraps to earn a law degree and win an election to a top job in Florida, he is a great example of the American dream.

And, of course, he'd be the First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. But more to the point....

Martinez, a trial attorney by background, is known as a conservative who is also solidly pro-life in his views.

Thus avoiding the Alberto Gonzales factor.

I wouldn't bet the farm on their next assertion:

As for a Senate battle over his possible nomination, Martinez should get deferential treatment. When the president named him to the HUD post, for example, he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. As a member of the "club" of the Senate, it is doubtful he would get "Borked," even from the likes of Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer.

Wanna bet? Remember the Terri Schiavo memo flap, which came from a member of Martinez's staff? Does anybody seriously believe that the Dems wouldn't bring that up, and the issue related to it? For that matter, did being a "member of the club" cut John Ashcroft any slack when he was appointed Bush's first Attorney-General? And as for the inspirational life story angle, how exactly did that carry Miguel Estrada past the filibuster mounted by the likes of Chucky and Uncle Teddy?

Martinez would have at least one edge over his colleague Senator Brownback:

And with Republican governor Jeb Bush sitting in Tallahassee and able to appoint a successor to fulfill Martinez's term, the GOP would be able to hang onto his Senate seat to boot.

Since Kansas has a Dem governor, going with Senator Martinez would not cost the GOP a senate seat, which seems more important given how many they're probably going to lose next year as it is.

I don't have any problem with a Martinez nomination per se - at least not yet. But it does get a little wearying to see the White House bob and weave and maneuver and dance around to try to avoid opposition...well, opposition that is going to be mounted regardless of the nominee, and which, with a ten-seat Senate majority, ought to be considered irrelevant in any case.

If the President wants to appoint a Hispanic to Olympus, why doesn't he elevate Fifth Circuit Appellate Judge Emilio Garza? He has a ton of stature, he's a staunch constitutionalist, and best of all he wouldn't be a "stealth" candidate. Which is another way of saying that he has the background, philosophy, and (sigh) ethnicity that Dubya is looking for, plus would send a signal that, far from trying to slide by an ideological showdown for control of the federal judiciary, the White House is saying, in the words of the infamous Scott Hall (as ripped off by the Rock), "Don't sing it...bring it."

Fact is, such a showdown is unavoidable if the Supreme Court is ever to be restored to some measurable level of respect for the Constitution as it was originally written. And if Mel Martinez would move the court in that direction, the Dems will maul him with as much maniacal ferocity as they would Judge Garza, or Harvey Wilkinson, or Michael McConnell, or Micheal Luttig, or Edith Jones, or Janice Rogers Brown, or Priscilla Owen, etc., etc., etc.

Conservatives can probably live with a Justice Martinez. But what we need to see is a White House whose selection criteria is less rooted in gimmickry to get around a DisLoyal Opposition that, ultimately, can't (or shouldn't be able to) stop the President's choice, and more rooted in keeping his double-campaign promise to appoint Justices in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

This is a fight that needs to be fought, so that the enemies of the Constitution can finally, once and for all, be put in their place and at the same time be forced to acknowledge why it is happening to them.

Chucky and the Massachusetts Manatee and their brood need to be left with no excuses. They need to be, in the words of Ivan Drago, "broken."

Mel Martinez would be a gimmick. Emilio Garza would be an exclamation point.

UPDATE: The American Spectator prowler column is hinting that the latest incarnation of the President's "short list" has traded Ediths - Clement is out, Jones is in. One can only hope.