The high court and the big guessing game

Re “Gonzales’ Fatal Flaw,” editorial, July 8

Please check the Constitution again. “Advice and consent” is the job of the U.S. Senate, not The Times editorial board. Can’t you at least wait until the president nominates someone before deciding whether the nominee is unsatisfactory?

This pre-nomination jockeying between editorialists, special interest groups and politicians does nothing to help the process and only serves to ensure that no matter who is the nominee, the confirmation process will be a contentious one.

You are doing nothing to help the process. Then again, given your clear opposition to the Bush administration, your agenda here is clear.

Brian L. Milinsky

El Segundo

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It is unlikely that President Bush will nominate a moderate judge to the U.S. Supreme Court given his predilection to assume that he has a mandate where none exists. The people should be able to expect that any nominee adhere to the doctrine of stare decisis, a policy of courts to stand by precedent where the facts are substantially the same.

Kevin H. Park

Tarzana