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WASHINGTON -- Leading senators floated the names of about a dozen candidates to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's vacancy on the Supreme Court, but President Bush kept his list to himself at a White House breakfast Wednesday.

Talking to reporters outside the Executive Mansion, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter said he thinks the next nomination will be more contentious than the confirmation process for John Roberts.

Specter said he suggested that the president delay picking O'Connor's replacement until more is known about Roberts, who is likely to be confirmed soon as chief justice, succeeding the late William H. Rehnquist. Specter also said, however, that Bush didn't seem to embrace that idea.

"The president was noncommittal," the Pennsylvania Republican said afterward. "The body language was not very positive."

The meeting, just a day before the Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on whether to recommend Roberts' confirmation, was similar to one that Bush held in July, one week before he nominated Roberts to fill O'Connor's shoes. Bush later offered Roberts for the higher job - to be chief justice of the United States.

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"I have raised a certain cautionary signal," Specter said, "but I believe the next nomination is going to be a great deal more contentious than the Roberts' nomination. I say that because, bubbling just below the surface was a lot of frustration in the hearing that we just concluded."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Miss., said the session marked the formal beginning of consultations between the White House and Capitol Hill on the additional vacant seat, although Bush advisers previously held informal discussions with senators on the second nomination.

Frist said he advised the president not to embrace Specter's idea for him to delay the second nomination. He said if Bush's second nomination came quickly, the Senate would be able to handle that nomination in a timely fashion. "I believe we can do it by Thanksgiving, if that nomination comes quickly enough," Frist said.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who said Tuesday he will oppose Roberts' confirmation, said Bush seemed open to the senators' suggestions, but said the discussion was one-way. He said, however, that he thought it was a "good start," and felt as if White House counsel Harriet Miers' door was open to senators.

"There was a discussion of names," the Nevada Democrat said. "It was mainly our suggesting names to him and talking about names to him. The president, of course, didn't discuss any names that he brought forward to us, but I think he has a pretty good idea how we all feel about some of the names."

© 2005 The Associated Press

Editor's note:
Rush Limbaugh Says the War for the Court Has Begun! Find Out Details – Click Here Now

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