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Skriven 2005-07-19 23:33:18 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0507199) for Tue, 2005 Jul 19
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Briefing by Scott McClellan and Dan Bartlett on the President's Nominee
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For Immediate Release
July 19, 2005

Briefing by Scott McClellan and Dan Bartlett on the President's Nominee
James S. Brady Briefing Room



7:57 P.M. EDT

MR. McCLELLAN: All right, I think we ought to get started, given the time
of the day. I'm going to start off with a little bit of tick-tock, and then
I'm going to turn it over to the Counselor to the President, Dan Bartlett.

Now, let me just start off by saying that this should be considered on
background until the President makes his remarks, and then at that point,
you can put this on the record. But because the President has not made his
remarks publicly yet, I want to hold off on doing this on the record until
then.

Let me just back up --

Q So the embargo is gone, right? It's just on background.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, the embargo is there for on the record, but you can
put this -- you can consider this on background until then.

And let me back up to the day that Justice O'Connor made her announcement
that she was going to be leaving the court. That was July 1st. You all
heard remarks from the President in the Rose Garden. He said then that this
is a responsibility he takes seriously, that he was going to move forward
in a thoughtful and deliberate way. He directed the staff to work with the
Department of Justice and pull together information on potential nominees
-- this would include background on the nominee, as well as information on
their key rulings.

The President also outlined clear criteria he was looking for in a nominee.
He said he was -- he wanted someone of great legal ability and good
judgment, someone of integrity who would fully interpret our -- faithfully
interpret our laws and our Constitution.

And then the President headed -- when the President headed to Denmark
aboard Air Force One, he took a notebook with him. That notebook contained
information on 11 potential nominees at that point. This was a diverse
group of individuals, people of great legal ability from all walks of life.

Now, the list was fluid. We were constantly reviving the list. The
President was taking into account the thoughts and ideas from senators of
both parties. We consulted more than 70 members of the Senate -- that
includes three-quarters of the Senate Democrats. I think you heard from
some long-time serving members of the Senate who said that this level of
consultation was unprecedented.

The President also, during this time period, was asking questions and
discussing potential nominees with his key advisors. The President also was
determined to move forward in a timely manner so that the nominee could be
confirmed by the time the Court comes back into session in October.

As you know, when the President returned, he met with Senators Frist, Reid,
Specter, and Leahy. And a good bit of that discussion, as I talked about at
the time, focused on the confirmation process and the timing. So they had a
good discussion about that at that point.

And the President, as you have heard him say, has called for his nominee to
receive fair treatment and a reasonable timetable for Senate action. The
two most recent examples set a good precedent -- those are Justices
Ginsberg and Breyer. Justice Ginsberg, once President Clinton submitted her
nomination, was given a vote within 42 days on the floor of the Senate. And
Justice Breyer, it was 73 days later. They were able to -- the Senate was
able to go through a thorough consideration of these nominees and it did
not require months of delay, as the President talked about last week.

Now today, the President -- I'll go through a little bit more of the
tick-tock -- the President, as I think some of you are now aware, will be
nominating Judge John Roberts of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to fill
the vacancy. The President met personally with five potential nominees --
one on Thursday, two on Friday, and two on Saturday. As you heard the
President say, there were others that he knew and he did not need to meet
with.

Now Harriet Miers, the President's Counsel, was in all of these interviews.
It was on Friday that the President met with Judge Roberts. This was after
he had returned from his trip to North Carolina. They had a visit over in
the Residence. It was over in the sitting area of the Residence. The
President wanted to have a relaxed and comfortable environment where he
could get to know Judge Roberts personally and professionally. And so he
thought that was the best place to have their visit.

They visited for about an hour -- that included a quick tour of the
Residence, as well. The President showed him the Lincoln Bedroom and the
Queen's Bedroom, the Yellow Oval Office and the Truman Balcony.

Then over the weekend, the President took his time to carefully consider
the nominees and those that he had visited with, and he stayed in contact
with his key advisors. I know he talked with Andy Card on a number of
occasions during the weekend. And it was last night, Monday night, that the
President essentially had made his decision.

There were a couple of issues that still needed to be addressed, and those
were, essentially, by this morning. And so a final decision was really made
this morning by the President, and the President began talking to the Vice
President and some of his senior staff during that -- after this morning
time period.

Then the President had his meeting with Prime Minister Howard, and they had
the press availability. Following that, the President and Prime Minister
Howard were joined by their spouses, Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Bush. And they
headed upstairs to have lunch in the Residence. And this was a little bit
before 12:30 p.m. when they headed upstairs. And then at approximately
12:35 p.m., the President stepped out of the lunch to call Judge Roberts
and offer him the nomination.

The President returned to the lunch after that conversation. And this is a
quote from the President, he told those that were gathered there, Prime
Minister and Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Bush. The President said, "I just offered
the job to a great, smart, 50-year-old lawyer who has agreed to serve on
the bench." And then a short time ago, about 7:00 p.m., the President and
Mrs. Bush were joined by Judge Roberts and his wife over in the Residence
for dinner. And I think it was a little bit after 7:30 p.m. when the
President made some outreach calls to members of the Senate. The President
called Senators Frist, Specter, Reid, and Leahy -- I believe in that order
-- and informed them of his decision. And that's a quick overview of the
tick-tock.

And with that, I'm going to turn it over to Dan Bartlett, and he'll talk a
little bit more about Judge Roberts, and then be here to take whatever
questions you have.

Q What was the reaction from the senators, Scott?

MR. BARTLETT: We don't have feedback yet. The President is over in the
Residence. We'll have to fill you on the fact that -- I'm sure it was,
speedy confirmation; we can look forward to voting yes for him. (Laughter.)

Q Who were the other interviews that --

MR. BARTLETT: Well, we're not going to be able to -- unfortunately, we're
not going to be -- we don't think it's fair to those other candidates to
list out the people that the President met with. But I think it's fair to
say that as the President charged this administration and staff back when
Judge Gonzales was in charge of the process, and as Harriet Miers has taken
over the process, that he wanted an exhaustive list that -- that
represented America, that -- from people, as he has said time and again,
represented all walks of life.

And that was the case during this process. And I think as the President
intimated himself the other day, saying that there's some folks that he
knew already, people that he had had relationships with or knew enough
about that he didn't feel it was necessary for a personal interview with,
and others that he wanted to. So there were five interviews done in person,
as Scott said, done over the course of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

The one with Judge Roberts was -- had some other logistical hurdles. He was
actually teaching a class in London with the -- an international trade
class in London. He had to cancel his class Friday and today and has been
shuttling back and forth across the pond to have these meetings. So I can
only imagine he's a bit jet lagged, but in great spirits and obviously
honored for -- with this -- with this awesome responsibility and looks
forward to the process.

But let me just step back a little bit. As this process unfolded and as the
President is looking at what he wants in a judge, the thing he kept coming
back to was qualifications, experience, and judgment. And what you found as
you looked at the list -- and there were some extremely qualified people --
but with Judge Roberts, the credentials just jumped off the page.

Anybody you talk to, representing a broad legal and philosophical spectrum,
all come back to the fact that this person has set himself apart in an
elite group when it comes to his qualifications. He's one of the brightest
appellate minds and brightest attorneys in this country. He has, at a young
age of 50, has argued before the Supreme Court more than 30 times -- 38
times, I believe. This is somebody who graduated with honors, both
undergrad and Harvard Law, has worked in -- as Deputy Solicitor General
both in the Reagan administration, Bush administration. He's worked in
private practice in all kinds of different -- different type of legal
disciplines.

And when you hear the type of people who have come forward and the type of
comments you see from people from the legal community -- whether it be the
late Lloyd Cutler or others who just show a deep amount of respect for
Judge Roberts and his legal capabilities. And that's really what the
President was seeing as he was looking through all this information.

But as you know and those who have covered the President for awhile, he
likes to have the info, he likes to have the background, but he also is a
field player, as I call him. He likes to size people up himself, make his
own judgment. And what he wanted to do is to make sure the person matched
the resume, to make sure that not only was this person -- had all the check
marks on their resume, but also had those innate qualities you're looking
for -- the character and temperament and judgment, and, frankly, leadership
qualities that you want in the highest court in the land.

And that's really based both on his conversations with people, and the
intelligence he was gathering through advisors and friends and people who
we had reached out, but also in his hour-long conversation with him, he did
find a person he felt that not only had a sharp legal mind, but also had
the type of character and judgment that he was looking for in a candidate
for office.

As Scott mentioned, he wanted to be in a comfortable environment in the
Residence. The sitting areas up on the personal residence floor of the
White House, really right outside of where the President and Mrs. Bush --
in their most intimate quarters. And Barney and Beazley are -- they're
laying at their feet, and they're having -- and they were able to have a
great conversation both at a personal level, as well as -- and
professional. It was professional. And I'm not going to be able to get into
the details of the questions, but it was wide-ranging.

Like I said, both he wanted to know about his personal life and about where
he came from, and who -- and he is from Long Beach, Indiana. It's a small
community right outside of Gary, Indiana. His father was an electrical
engineer, but worked in the steel mill there outside of Gary, Indiana. And
he spent his summers both in high school and in college working there at
the steel mill as an electrician's assistant. He graduated with 24
classmates; small school. He was class president. He was team-captain of
the football team, somebody who just exhibited leadership qualities right
out of the gate; went to Harvard and really set himself apart there, as
well as I said, graduating with honors, as well as being part of the paper
there, and doing a lot of things that distinguished himself.

So again, this is a -- the President was honored that there were so many
qualified people, but it really was Judge Roberts demonstrating both in his
prior experience and his interviews and in what we've heard from others as
the person that has really distinguished himself in our country as somebody
worthy of the highest court in the land. He -- so the President was excited
about the opportunity he has today. He's -- as Scott said, talked to him at
12:35 p.m. today to give him that news. It's a -- as I said, they're having
dinner right now, and some time -- at 7:00 p.m. that is. And I'm sure the
President is probably already finished. But he -- and then, obviously,
they're preparing for tonight, in which the President will make some
remarks.

With that, I'm more than happy to answer some questions.

Q Dan, where was the factoring in of a minority or a woman in the
President's thinking? You talked about how he went through the thinking,
but it's another white man from great schools with a regular story.

MR. BARTLETT: Well, I think it's very safe to say that the President, when
he was telling the country that he was casting a wide net, he did just
that. And he interviewed women. He was considering minorities at the
highest level and on the shortest of lists. There were -- the last, most
intimate list the President was working with represented all of America, no
question about it. He was taking the advice of members of the United States
Senate when they said they wanted somebody with the type of qualifications
that he believes can unite the country. We looked at people who had served
on the bench, and people who didn't serve on the bench. They were in the
lists, and of the type of materials that we pulled together at the present
time.

Now, like I said I'm not -- I don't think it's fair to the people who were
not chosen to give the names of who were not. But I think it's very safe to
say that there was serious consideration given to people who represent all
walks of life. And at the end of the day, though, the President has to look
and say, who has the most qualifications, who is the best person, brightest
mind, best character?

And at the end of the day, his judgment was, is that Justice -- Judge
Roberts's credentials and background and experience stand apart, that he is
just -- when you look at -- particularly when you look at those who know
him best in the legal community, and you see the type of comments that are
made, people who represent both political parties, who represent the broad
ideological spectrum, all of them come back to the fact that it's
unquestioned that this person has the qualities and experience and judgment
to be serving on the highest court in the land.

Q On Friday, was that the first time the President and Judge Roberts have
met? And also, what role did the Vice President play in the selection?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, May 2000, I believe as -- you probably can pull up a
file photo of the 11 appellate justices. The President did a photo-op in
the East Room. Judge Roberts was there. So obviously, that's my --

Q May '01, right? May '01?

MR. BARTLETT: Yes, May '01, I'm sorry. So they had met, I know, as early as
May of 2001. They didn't have --

Q Their first real conversation?

MR. BARTLETT: Yes, I think the most intimate conversation, obviously, in
this case. And that's obviously one reason why he wanted to meet with him
in person.

Q And the Vice President?

MR. BARTLETT: Oh, well, obviously, the Vice President is one of the key
advisors for him. I'm not going to be able to divulge recommendations that
any of the top advisors made to the President. But the Vice President is
somebody who has been involved in this process from the outset. The
President, obviously, appreciates his wise counsel. And he gave wise
counsel in this respect, as well. But I'm not going to get into specific
recommendations that anybody on the White House staff, or the position the
Vice President made.

Q Dan, Monday the President said, I will be interviewing people. Well, he
looked like he was done by Monday. Can you explain that?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, I'll have to go back and look at that. Like I said,
there's follow-up conversations with people, whether it was done by staff,
as well. He might have been talking in the collective --

Q Did he plan to interview more people on Monday? Or was he just throwing
us off the scent? I mean, he definitely spoke in the future tense -- I will
be interviewing people; some of them I don't -- the ones I don't know.

MR. BARTLETT: Well, he definitely interviewed people that he hadn't known.
I think -- like I said, these people were having -- there was follow-up
conversations being had with these people. And so I think that's what his
intention of his comments were.

Q But -- so I will be interviewing people, you mean he was going to call
somebody back? Or what do you mean?

MR. BARTLETT: He probably wanted to reserve the judgment to be able to do
that if he'd wanted to.

Q At any point in the process was any other person contacted and told that
the President wanted them to get the nomination?

MR. BARTLETT: I'm sorry?

Q Who was the first person -- Roberts was the first person that's been
contacted by Bush or the White House?

MR. BARTLETT: He's the only person he offered the job to.

Q Dan, I assume that Roberts would be considered a conservative. But how
would you categorize him -- middle-of-the-road, conservative? Would he pass
muster with the extreme right- wing of the party, including the religious
right? And I don't know if you were in jest when you said that you expected
easy and sweeping Senate confirmation? Do you believe that to be a fact?

MR. BARTLETT: We think he deserves a thorough look. We think, though, that
the United States Senate will come to the same conclusion that President
Bush came to, and the same judgment they came to in 2001, in which he was
overwhelmingly voted out of committee and then received unanimous consent
on the United States Senate floor, which is hard to do in this environment
that we're talking about when it comes to judgeships. It only took one
Democrat or Republican to hold up his vote, because to get a unanimous
consent, it has to be unanimous. And he received a unanimous voice vote for
his confirmation to the second high -- people have regarded the D.C.
Circuit as the second-highest court in the land, and I just think that
speaks to this person's qualifications, credentials, and judgment.

Q What about the conservative aspect?

MR. BARTLETT: Everybody will make their own judgments. We think what you
see here is a pick that is consistent with what President Bush has told the
American people that he looks for when he makes appointments to the bench,
and that is somebody who will interpret the Constitution, not legislate
from the bench. This person has a strong track record of doing just that --
like I said, impeccable credentials, is the type of person we believe
deserves, obviously, a close look. The United States Senate has a
responsibility; they also have an opportunity to rise to the moment and
demonstrate that they can do a dignified process that will allow somebody
who once has been confirmed by them, to come back before them, answer the
questions, and then receive a fair up or down vote.

John.

Q Dan, the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, said today that the
-- sorry, I lost my point.

MR. BARTLETT: I'm sure other people have --

Q You said there were a couple of things that had to be straightened out
before the announcement could be made. What were those? Was either --

MR. BARTLETT: Well, I'm not going to go -- Scott just mentioned the fact
that the President asked questions. Well, what -- I'm sure it was just
questions he was peppering people about as he made his final decision
making, and they were going to get that information to him this morning.
Those things happen. But I wouldn't view it anything more than what would
be routine questions that would be asked in the final throes of a
decision-making process.

Q Can you say if the President raised issues in the interviews about issues
that come before the Court, issues like abortion or same-sex marriage, or
did he deliberately avoid those?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, Mark, he has been very clear that he was not going to
have a litmus test on the issues that you mentioned, that it was important
that a judge who was going -- potentially going to have to be ruling on
those very issues to not be opining on them before hand. That's one thing
the President has been proud about is that he has not imposed a litmus test
and we would hope that others would do the same.

Obviously, in a confirmation process, people can ask any question they
want, but I think as Justice Ginsberg and others have proven, the
appropriate action for them to take is to not answer those type of
questions. And, as I said, the President doesn't have a litmus test.

Q Dan, did the timing of this announcement today have anything at all to do
with all the intense focus on Karl Rove and the leak investigation?

MR. BARTLETT: I'm glad you -- I omitted discussing that, and I appreciate
you giving me the opportunity to talk about that. They recess next Friday,
the Senate does. If you don't get all your stuff done -- packets of
material have to get up there, consultations. We have 16 members of the
Judiciary Committee alone, other leadership, other members of the Senate,
courtesy visits. You just think about logistically getting the nominee in
this tight time period. If we would have waited until the last two days of
the month or so, we would have not have been able to officially get his
name into the process, which then would allow for hearings on the back end,
which is obviously a topic we'll be consulting with the Senate on, when
those will take place.

So this was driven by that clock. We were backing up decision-making based
on that. We had a window in which the President -- we decided more than two
weeks ago, three weeks ago -- in which the President would make a decision.
That window was roughly this weekend, this past weekend -- Saturday, Sunday
-- through Wednesday of this week. He made the decision today. It falls
right in that window that we had set out weeks before. And it's to make
sure that as we -- we have a responsibility just as the Senate has a
responsibility. The Senate has responsibility to do a fair hearing in a
judicious way, in a timely way to make sure they can -- with October. For
them to be able to do that, we had to do our job to getting the candidate
up there, and that's why that was the only consideration -- the only
consideration when choosing Judge Roberts to be his nominee.

Q Dan, what did you say -- just to be clear, did you say that he
interviewed women? Does that mean more than one of the five people was a
woman?

MR. BARTLETT: Again, I'm not going to break down the candidates. What I
will just point to is the fact that he did. There has -- the interviews
represented people from all walks of life. As the President said himself,
there's some people that he didn't necessarily need personally to interview
them because he already knew them. So there was a mix of both people who
were on the final list, who were getting the most extensive interest of the
President, that clearly represented people from all walks of life.

Q Dan, can you tell us the President's thinking on ignoring his wife's
advice? (Laughter.)

Q He's in trouble, right? (Laughter.)

MR. BARTLETT: Absolutely not. Mrs. Bush is spending time with the nominee
right now. And she shares the President's view that he is extremely
qualified.

Q Is there a sofa bed in the Oval Office? (Laughter.)

Q Did the President have any age threshold? Judge Roberts is only 50. Some
had said that perhaps the President would pick someone on the younger end.
How did that play into it?

MR. BARTLETT: I don't think he had -- my understanding is the candidates,
the 11, and those even -- the shorter -- there was a pretty good range when
it came to age. It's more about qualifications. And despite only being 50,
there was few attorneys in America who had had more extensive experience
before the United States Supreme Court, as many cases that he had actually
argued before the Supreme Court, had clerked in the Supreme Court, had
worked at the Justice Department, in the Solicitor General's Office; had
worked in the Counsel's Office here at the White House under the Reagan
Administration, as somebody at such a young age but had just unbelievable
experience and credentials made the President comfortable with the fact
that he was only 50 years old. That's about --

Q But in terms of if he has a good, long life, one would hope, that he'll
be on the court for a long time in terms of the President's legacy and in
trying to shape the Court?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, you want somebody who can do the job, and you want
somebody who can execute the job faithfully for as long as they so choose.
It's a lifetime appointment. He recognizes that, and hopes that upon
confirmation, if the Senate decides to follow in his judgment that he's
qualified, that he hopes he can serve as long as possible.

Q Dan, the President said he was --

MR. BARTLETT: Okay, you then you.

Q Thank you. The President said he was going to take his time. But now
you're saying that you wanted to hurry the pace along because you didn't
want to get caught in a logjam on the Hill. Which one is it? I mean, did
the President feel a little hurried because of the situation?

MR. BARTLETT: Actually, no. If you look at the fact -- first of all, you
have to go back to what Scott talked about. It was that this process didn't
start when Justice O'Connor decided to step down. We had to be contingency
planning since the first day we took office. And the list was kind of
called an "evergreen list." It always was morphing. It was -- you know,
names were coming on and off. Some would get different scrutiny in
different periods. Judge Gonzales nurtured that list and then Harriet Miers
and, you know -- so this process moved at a deliberative pace, but very
much in the comfort range for the President to do his due diligence when he
-- after O'Connor stepped down, or announced her intention to step down, it
gave him the opportunity to really dig in to the details.

But one thing that was expressed throughout this process was, first and
foremost, it's important that he feel comfortable with the decision that he
makes. And we felt like there was a window there that gave him plenty of
time to be deliberative, to do his research, to do -- to seek counsel, do
the interviews. He did that in a way that was judicious, but at the same
time, we are very much in the comfort zone for the Senate. If you look at
recent precedent for Ginsberg and others, the 70-some-odd day time range,
that they have plenty of time to do their due diligence, have the scrutiny
that the hearings bring, but also have a fair vote -- up or down.

So it -- I think it's a win-win, because the President had time to do his
job, and now the Senate has time to do theirs.

Q Now you all --

MR. BARTLETT: Now, if we would have waited too long, as the President has
said, then you put -- but the President didn't feel rushed whatsoever.

Q Now you also said of the nominees -- well, the potential nominees, that
the President wanted a cross section of America. With Roberts possibly
being confirmed, do you think the Supreme Court represents a cross section
of America?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, obviously there still represent -- there is
representation of -- that does represent a lot of America on the Supreme
Court. And, as I said, and the President has showed in all his judicial
appointments, that he does reach out to people from all walks of life when
it comes to finding people to serve on the bench. And that will always be
his standard.

And in this case, he did so. He looked at it very closely. At the end of
the day, he found one person he felt that set himself apart from the rest
of the field when it comes to the type of qualities he was looking for, the
credentials, the qualifications, the experience. And that's what guided him
in this decision.

Q What did Judge Roberts say when the President offered him the job? And
also, to what extent did the President go back and read decisions?

MR. BARTLETT: Obviously, he was -- he accepted. I don't have the exact
verbatim of what he said. We can --

Q Was he surprised?

MR. BARTLETT: Was he surprised? I think -- I can't speak on behalf of him.
I'll try to find out. But this process was not -- I mean, he had been
through -- he had met with members of the staff weeks ago. You know, there
was a whole process going on here. He's probably just glad the process was
over and obviously liked the outcome of it, but he was elated, he was --
and humbled to have the honor of even being considered. And obviously, he
looks forward to having his conversations with the United States Senate.

Q And as far as the decisions, did he read a lot of the Judge's decisions?

MR. BARTLETT: He took -- he had a big packet of material. He looked
extensively into his professional background when it comes to things he had
worked on, both in government, as well as in the private practice. He
looked extensively into his personal background, as well.

So all those "i's" were dotted and "t's" crossed by the President himself
as he looked at the information he wanted. And it helped educate him on
what the kind of questions he wanted to ask him, as well, as far as his
experience as a Solicitor General, his experience as a private litigator,
his experience as -- both probably in his legal training, as well. So he
definitely did his homework before -- before the interview.

Q Just to clarify, the list of 11 people that the President took to Denmark
that Scott said was fluid, was it just a reduction in numbers, or at that
point, were names dropped and others added on to it?

MR. BARTLETT: I think it's -- well, and some, probably a little bit of
both, reduced, as well as, you know -- I'm sure -- you know, because there
was an extensive consultation, and I'm sure some suggestions came up. We
probably ran those traps on those people that may have been suggested, as
well. So there was never an iron-clad, this is the only people you can
consider. And he -- it's not as if he went into lock-down mode and didn't
want to hear ideas. He was eager.

Q Were the five people that he interviewed on that original list of 11?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, again, I don't know if I can go into as much detail
about that, but the five people were all very strong candidates, qualified
candidates, but Judge Roberts stood apart.

Q Another point of clarification. So earlier when you said that there were
women on the final list of five that were interviewed, you did not mean to
say there were women that were interviewed?

MR. BARTLETT: I'm saying that there were, in the final analysis, the final
list of people, both who he interviewed and who he was considering who he
didn't require to be interviewed, that there were women included.

Q Did Harriet handle most of the vetting herself of Judge Roberts?

MR. BARTLETT: She has a team of people who helped her here and at the
Justice Department. She sat in all the interviews with the President.

Q For all the candidates, right?

MR. BARTLETT: For all the candidate --

Q For all five that were interviewed?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, the personal ones, but she obviously was shepherding
the broader list, as well.

Q Would you give us a sense of what some of the people have said in
reaction when the President told them who the nominee is?

MR. BARTLETT: Some of the people?

Q Some -- members of the Senate, even four members of the Senate who --

MR. BARTLETT: Well, I haven't -- we've -- literally, because we rushed in
here. He was over at the Residence making the calls. We haven't gotten
feedback on the calls just yet.

Q And as you -- as you look forward toward -- you're insisting that you
want a smooth confirmation process, but you know that there will be a lot
of activity on both sides. What kind of advice are you giving him? And what
kind of involvement will the White House have with special interest groups,
maybe encouraging them not to be as involved as they suggest they will be?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, we've -- Judge Roberts is honored to have the help of
former Senator Fred Thompson, who will help advising him personally through
the process, as will our legislative affairs staff, who will be helping
him, giving him counsel on how to do this process. He's been through it on
a much smaller scale at the D.C. Circuit level. There will be -- as the
President said, there will be -- there are groups on both sides that are
going to be involved in this, he hopes. He calls on the Senate, he calls on
everybody involved in this process to rise to the occasion, to have a
dignified debate, to have a civil debate. Let's discuss the substance, and
let's -- and not be trafficking in partisan attacks or ideological attacks
that aren't grounded in fact.

And this gives an opportunity -- like I said, there is a precedent with the
last two Supreme Court Justices, where you have somebody like Justice
Ginsberg, for example, who represented the ACLU, somebody who has had deep
philosophical differences with many members of the United States Senate,
Republican members of the Senate, yet they set aside those differences and
voted for her overwhelmingly. And I think that shows that there is a way
forward, there is a way to do this. And we think that Judge Roberts fits
the bill when it comes to the type of person that America can be proud of
when it comes to serving on the bench.

Q You had talked --

MR. BARTLETT: Two more questions.

Q You had talked about how there was extensive consultation. Do you have
any sense, though, if out of their consultations, there is consensus?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, we've consulted with more than 70. Getting consensus in
the United States Senate, as you see, is tough. But I will say that we
believe that --

Q Finish that sentence. (Laughter.)

MR. BARTLETT: We believe that -- we believe that the consultation process
did help shape the President's view on who to pick, that both -- his name
did come up -- both from Republicans and Democrats, at times. I'm not going
to get into who said what. That's confidential advice. But broadly, I think
it's safe to say that both members -- Republican members and Democrat
members of the Senate had mentioned his name. He is the type of person when
you continue to hear people to say, pick somebody who is qualified, who has
the credentials to be on the bench. No question about it that Judge Roberts
fits that bill.

Q -- those 70 calls, though, do you think that this pick now represents
consensus?

MR. BARTLETT: I'm not going to start doing vote counting here on the night
of the announcement. I think -- let's let the process move forward, and I
think you'll see one in that -- like I said, that with his resume and with
his character and qualities deserves the support of a broad spectrum of the
United States Senate.

Q Was Judge Gonzales one of the candidates?

MR. BARTLETT: Again, I don't think it would be fair to the people who were
not chosen to go into who was and who wasn't a pick, so I'll just leave it
at that.

Last question. Cooper you're last.

Q Dan, can I just quickly follow up on what Ed was asking earlier? Before
the interviewing got to the President's stage, which members of the staff
other than Harriet, for instance, the Vice President, were involved in
screening, talking, meeting personally with the candidates? And then also
could you just comment on whether the vacancy being O'Connor's seat changed
the President's thinking about this process in any way?

MR. BARTLETT: Well, there are -- to first answer your question, I'm just
not going to be able to go into the internal workings of the nominee --
there was a group of advisers that the President has relied upon throughout
this process when it comes to nominations. And they were involved in this
process. But I'm not going to start going down the list of who was in and
who was out of these meetings.

Q Could you say if Vice President Cheney met with Mr. Roberts prior to the
President meeting with him?

MR. BARTLETT: He's been -- I'm not going to -- like I said, but safe to say
the Vice President has been very involved in this process from the outset.
I mean, and the President is always appreciative of his participation and
his advice. And the other question was the --

Q About -- the O'Connor seat.

MR. BARTLETT: Right. Some would say there are different qualities that
you're looking for in a Chief Justice over a Justice. But I must say that
the list didn't change that much, because as I said previously, the
President, from the outset, said he wanted a -- people say, oh, are you now
going to look for a woman, for example, because it was O'Connor. Well, the
President was already looking regardless of which seat, whether it was the
chief seat or others. He charged us from the outset to make sure -- he was
like when I -- when you give me the list to consider, it better represent
America. And that was something that he charged to his staff early in the
administration, so that was regardless of the position.

But he has to look at this, as I have this opening, and I have to look and
see who is the best person, today, that I can find to serve in that post.
And the President believes Judge Roberts is the person.

Cooper, last question.

Q The "evergreen list," did you start with a list and then winnow it down
to 11? Was it constantly rolling, or was there a day one list?

MR. BARTLETT: Oh, I'm sure it's very big. Oh, I think from '01 to now, I'm
sure the list probably got significantly larger than 11 people.

Q So 11 is a distillation of the original evergreen?

MR. BARTLETT: Oh, yes. You cast a wide, wide, wide net early on, and then
you winnow it down, and then obviously, when you get a point where you're
actually handing names over to the President, obviously, that's going to be
a winnowing-down effect. So that's where we are.

Thanks.

END 8:35 P.M. EDT
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