Gonzales, currently the Attorney General, is known to be a close personal friend of President Bush, leading many to speculate that Bush will nominate him to the Court. However, since O’Connor’s resignation, conservative groups have undertaken a campaign against Gonzales, whom they consider too liberal on key wedge issues like abortion.
The son of two Mexican immigrants, Gonzales’ path to HLS is as improbable as it is incredible.
Gonzales grew up in a poor home—his seven-sibling family did not own a telephone until he was in high school. He enlisted in the Air Force after high school and was eventually recommended for, and went to, the Air Force Academy.
After transferring to Rice University in Houston and earning his bachelor’s degree, Gonzales headed northeast to Harvard for law school.
According to friend and law school Classmate Paul J. Karch ’78, Gonzales was a “very quiet, nice guy, with an easy smile.” Karch remembered that Gonzales’ reticence stood out at HLS. “He did not argue politics or even law that much—for a law student, he was a very quiet guy.”
And unlike the majority of Harvard-educated Supreme Court justices, Gonzales was not on the Law Review and did not clerk for a federal judge after graduation.
After leaving Harvard, Gonzales worked as an attorney at Vinson & Elkins in Houston, a job that Karch said Harvard probably helped him get. Karch said that it was at Vinson & Elkins that Gonzales got involved in Republican politics.
After leaving that firm, Gonzales served as Bush’s legal counsel, Secretary of State of Texas, and as a justice on the Texas state supreme court.
And when Bush moved into the White House in 2001, he brought Gonzales with him. Gonzales served as White House Counsel for four years before he was promoted to Attorney General last November.
BUSH’S CHOICE
While many have speculated about who the nominee could be, the choice ultimately lies with President Bush, who has kept his cards close to his chest. However, many experts have pointed to Roberts and Gonzales as possible nominees, if not for this vacancy, then for other vacancies expected before Bush’s term ends in 2008—including Chief Justice.
Lawyers who knew both Roberts and Gonzales at Harvard said that both men would do honor to Harvard’s name.
Attorney Mark B. Helm ’78, who served as president of the Harvard Law Review during the 1981-82 year and is also a Crimson editor, knew both Roberts and Gonzales when they were at Harvard.
“Both have a lot of integrity and would be great choices,” he said.
—Staff writer Adam M. Guren can be reached at guren@fas.harvard.edu.