A Jan. 3 AP wire story by reporter Hope Yen analyzed how President Bush might fill eight vacancies on federal courts in Pennsylvania. Among those vacancies are two judgeships on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. And among the experts Yen asked for predictions about that court was one Arthur Hellman of the University of Pittsburgh's law school. Hellman told Yen that Bush might be inclined to nominate D. Brooks Smith, already a federal district-court judge in western Pennsylvania: "Smith, who was nominated for the federal trial court by former president George Bush, is generally conservative, but is highly respected, Hellman said."
Hmm. First off, D. Brooks Smith was actually nominated for the federal trial court in 1988 -- by Ronald Reagan, not by George Bush. Ms. Yen and her editors at AP will surely want to be more careful next time.
Then there's this Hellman guy, who apparently believes there's something anomalous about being "generally conservative" and "highly respected" . . . simultaneously! Professor Hellman and the University of Pittsburgh selection committee that hired him will surely want to be more careful next time.