Legal News

The Daily Scotulbutt: Justice Arguello? More . . .

By Ashby Jones

Yes, it’s the Law Blog’s first sniglet (i.e., made-up words that should be actual words): Scotulbutt, meaning gossipy news about the Supreme Court.*

The day’s Scotulbutt:

Wood in Washington: ABC News’s Jan Crawford Greenberg reports that Seventh Circuit judge Diane Wood is in Washington, D.C., today. Wood is in town to attend a conference at Georgetown, but, there might be more to it than that. Writes Greenberg: “According to a student, she didn't teach her first-year civil procedure class at the University of Chicago Law School yesterday afternoon and provided no advance notice or explanation. That's apparently because she was flying to D.C.-to attend the long-scheduled judicial conference, even though she is not on the program as a panelist or participant.”

Hmmm. Intriguing. We checked in with Jess Bravin, the WSJ’s Supreme Court reporter, who confirmed that Wood was, in fact, at the panel, along with Sandra Day O’Connor, Justice David Souter himself, and Elena Kagan, President Obama’s Solicitor General pick and also a Scotus contender. Bravin told us that Wood “declined to say if she planned to visit the White House but, in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, said ‘Nice to meet you. I have to go now.’”

Justice Arguello? We can add a new name to the list of potential nominees: Christine Arguello (pictured), a federal district court judge in Denver. According to the Hill — via the Pueblo Chieftan — Arguello said she was approached by White House intermediaries and asked if she was willing to throw her hat in the ring. “I said 'yes,’” said Arguello. “I wouldn’t have gone this far if I didn’t think I could serve my country in this way."

Arguello has been a law professor at the University of Kansas and served as Deputy Attorney General of Colorado while Ken Salazar, now the Secretary of the Interior, was Attorney General. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado and Harvard Law School. She became a federal judge only last September.

Whither the Granholm Meeting? Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm (UC Berkeley, Harvard Law), has been generating a bit of buzz herself this week, predominantly over a meeting she had at the White House on Monday. According to this story, from the Detroit Freep, Granholm’s staff said the only reason she visited the White House was to attend the announcement Tuesday on a national fuel standard for automobiles. After the ceremony, she flew back to Michigan.

Still, that hasn’t stopped the tongue wagging. On Monday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was still saying Obama hadn’t interviewed anyone for Souter’s spot. Tuesday, he declined to go that far — without revealing whether anyone had been interviewed. Hmmm.

* The term “sniglet” was reportedly coined by comedian and former SNL performer, Rich Hall. A couple we especially like:

Furnidents: The indentations left in carpet after moving heavy furniture;

Meganegabar: The line one draws after writing the amount on a check, to prevent the recipient from adding “and a million dollars”.

A high-school friend of ours this one, which we thought was great:

Diminihue: The time of day just after sunset when it’s optimal to remove your sunglasses.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 20, 2009 (boomark / email).