Speedy Gonzales

IT’S widely recognized that the Bush administration has more Reaganites in it than the Reagan administration itself had. Nowhere is this more true than in the administration’s legal team. Never have a Justice Department and a White House counsel’s office had more lawyers committed to a conservative view of the proper role of judges. It’s a talented and well-credentialed crew, too. But it is also operating under severe political constraints. So it remains in doubt whether the administration will nominate a conservative for the Supreme Court when it has a chance. The fact that White House counsel Alberto Gonzales tops most people’s lists of likely nominees does nothing to resolve the mystery.

Gonzales was raised, with seven siblings, in a two-bedroom house in Houston. His mother had a sixth-grade education, four grades better than his father. After high school, he went to the Air. Force Academy. While there, he decided he wanted to be a lawyer. He finished college at Rice, then went to Harvard Law. He became a corporate lawyer at a prestigious Houston firm. In 1995, George W. Bush, just elected governor, made Gonzales his counsel. Appointing Gonzales to office seems to have become a habit for Bush: He has since served as the secretary of state for Texas, a justice on the Texas supreme court, and now White House counsel. As Bush has said, “In many ways, Al embodies the American dream.”

About the Author

Ramesh Ponnuru

Ramesh Ponnuru is the editor of National Review, a columnist for the Washington Post, and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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IT’S widely recognized that the Bush administration has more Reaganites in it than the Reagan administration itself had. Nowhere is this more true than in the administration’s legal team. Never have a Justice Department and a White House counsel’s office had more lawyers committed to a conservative view of the proper role of judges. It’s a talented and well-credentialed crew, too. But it is also operating under severe political constraints. So it remains in doubt whether the administration will nominate a conservative for the Supreme Court when it has a chance. The fact that White House counsel Alberto Gonzales tops most people’s lists of likely nominees does nothing to resolve the mystery.

Gonzales was raised, with seven siblings, in a two-bedroom house in Houston. His mother had a sixth-grade education, four grades better than his father. After high school, he went to the Air. Force Academy. While there, he decided he wanted to be a lawyer. He finished college at Rice, then went to Harvard Law. He became a corporate lawyer at a prestigious Houston firm. In 1995, George W. Bush, just elected governor, made Gonzales his counsel. Appointing Gonzales to office seems to have become a habit for Bush: He has since served as the secretary of state for Texas, a justice on the Texas supreme court, and now White House counsel. As Bush has said, “In many ways, Al embodies the American dream.”