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President Bush's withdrawal Thursday of White House counsel Harriet Miers as a U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee once again raises the question of whether Utahn Michael McConnell will be considered as a candidate.

Scott Matheson Jr., dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah, declined to speculate on who might be on a short list for the next nomination. He did say that McConnell “is certainly considered one of the top constitutional scholars in the nation.”

U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch seconded that, calling McConnell a "constitutional genius." Sen. Bob Bennett said the judge was and continues to be his favorite for a nomination.

McConnell, a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver and a Utah resident, was rumored to be on Bush's short list when Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement in July.

The U. law school professor, who has argued 11 cases before the Supreme Court and won nine, may receive broad-based support.

Liberals might praise McConnell for opposing Clinton's impeachment and the 2000 Supreme Court ruling that made Bush president. He also was supported by more than 200 liberal law professors who signed a petition supporting his nomination to the federal bench, and he has also opposed government sponsored prayer in school.

But the self-described theologically conservative Christian also is known for his opposition to abortion and for helping the Boy Scouts of America fight to ban homosexuals.

Born in Louisville, Ky., the 50-year-old father of three has supported school vouchers and an easing of the rigid separation of church and state. He is a strong supporter of judicial restraint, arguing that Congress and not the courts should be the authority on defining and enforcing civil rights.

Professor John Fee of Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School said McConnell could satisfy Republican conservatives and some moderates. “He's distinguished” said Fee, who was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for a year beginning in 1996.

McConnell received a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and his law degree from the University of Chicago in 1979. Before becoming a member of the Reagan administration, he clerked for Circuit Judge J. Skelly Wright and U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan - both liberals.

McConnell was a law professor at the University of Chicago before joining the U. law faculty in 1997.