President Bush has Washington reeling after nominating Patrick Fitzgerald to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. The nomination was widely praised by Republicans who saluted his experience and integrity as a prosecutor.
At the time of the nomination, Mr. Fitzgerald was wrapping up an investigation into alleged improprieties by some White House officials suspected of playing a role in the leaking of classified information to the press. As the official nominee for the nation's highest court, Fitzgerald was forced to submit his resignation as Special Prosecutor to Acting Attorney General James Comey. In accepting the resignation, Comey expressed his appreciation for Fitzgerald's two years of hard work on his investigation and announced the appointment of Harriet Miers as his replacement. Ironically, Miers was the administration's previous nominee to the Supreme Court. When asked if there was a conflict of interest in appointing Miers as Special Prosecutor after her years of service as Counsel to the President, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan responded that Fitzgerald had been investigating White House officials, not the President himself and that no one could be better qualified to conclude the investigation than Miers with her thorough understanding of White House procedures and personnel. Asked later this morning about the new Supreme Court nominee's position on abortion, President Bush replied that he had not even considered the issue, but that Mr. Fitzpatrick (sic) would do a good job for America.