Correlation Insight Wanted; Luttig Leads Short List

If anyone has or knows of any articles or websites, or has information themselves, on exactly why year-to-year correlation tests often render inconclusive results for factors that often have a strong effect, could they please point them out to me or post them in the comments section? That would be of great help to me.

Also, Sandra Day O’Connor retired from the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, a move that was expected at some point in the near future. Bush has said he will wait until after the G-8 meeting to begin his search for a judge to replace her, but there is no doubt that his staffers have already spent countless hours scrutinising potential replacements. Bush’s short list contains solely men, as he likely expected Chief Justice Rehnquist to retire before O’Connor did. I was watching CNN the day of the announcement and they had a quick discussion of names that Bush will seriously consider to replace O’Connor. The first name mentioned was that of J. Michael Luttig, who I wrote about in an article in November that can be read here. I don't know if he leads the short list so to speak, but he is certainly one of the favourites to replace the first woman ever on the U.S. Supreme Court. O’Connor was known by many on the court to be a swing voter who did not firmly reside in either the conservative or liberal camp, so Bush and company must relish the opportunity to replace her with someone like Luttig, Wilkinson III, Alito Jr. or Gonzales.