EDINBURGH, Scotland, July 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush announced Wednesday former Sen. Fred Thompson will advise Bush on the confirmation process for the new Supreme Court justice.
Bush, who arrived in Scotland along with first lady Laura Bush for the Group of Eight summit at Gleneagles, has said he hopes to have a nominee confirmed before the Supreme Court begins its next session Oct. 3.
Bush said he talked Monday with Thompson, R-Tenn., who plays a prosecutor on the hit NBC television series, "Law and Order," and thanked him for taking on the chore. Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said Thompson won't play a role in the selection process itself. Rather, as a former Judiciary Committee member he will help guide the nominee through the confirmation process.
Bush said he used his plane flight to Europe to study up on possible nominees.
At a news conference before he left Denmark for Scotland, Bush said during the flight to Denmark he began looking at the "different backgrounds and different opinions and different attitudes of the perspective nominees. ... I'll try to assess their character, their interests."
He said again there would be "no litmus test" for his nominee.
