The AP's Deb Riechmann has the story.

President Bush's next nominee to the Supreme Court is likely to have a strong conservative judicial record, and sources close to the White House say the leading candidates are federal appeals judges Samuel Alito and J. Michael Luttig.

The expected nomination on Monday comes just four days after Harriet Miers, the president's first pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, withdrew her name after blistering opposition from some of Bush's most conservative backers.

Alito and Luttig both have strong conservative credentials and would be embraced by the president's political base. Others thought to be under consideration, according to conservatives monitoring the selection process, were federal judges Karen Williams, Priscilla Owen, Alice Batchelder and Michael McConnell, as well as Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan.

Will the swift nomination of O'Connor's replacement remove the indictment of Scooter Libby and the ongoing investigation of Karl Rove from the limelight? Only time will tell. But if President Bush truly wants to shift the focus away from the many problems facing his administration, he might indeed decide to nominate a judge with a record of opposition to Roe, and thus pick the fight with the Democrats that might inevitably end up with the Republican attempt to invoke the nuclear option.

(A question to ponder: if the Republicans successfully invoke the nuclear option to forward the nomination of a pro-life/anti-choice conservative to the Supreme Court, are Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's presidential ambitions resuscitated? [His potential legal woes not withstanding.])