By Geoff Earle
New documents reveal how the Clinton administration strategically — and disingenuously — leaked the names of potential nominees to the Supreme Court, held back potentially embarrassing documents, and stage-managed televised confirmation hearings.
One document, penned by close Clinton aide Doug Band, exposes what reporters have long suspected — that the first round of leaks of potential court nominees is often removed from reality.
“During the first [Justice Byron White] vacancy, many names were floated and leaked, mostly to appease various constituencies,” Band wrote in an internal 1998 memo, one of thousands of documents released Friday by the Clinton presidential library.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg eventually filled that slot. Justice Stephen Breyer filled a second.
The White House compiled a long list of what questions each senator was likely to ask in Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. Even conservative Republicans like Strom Thurmond of South Carolina appear to have cooperated.
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