According to the NYTimes, Kagan, Sotomayor and Wood are early front runners

[Uzybone]

for Obamas 1st SCOTUS pick. I think it will definitely be a female.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/us/01souter.html?hp


White House officials contacted Thursday night declined to comment. But Mr. Obama and his team have been thinking for a long time about whom he might put on the court. Among the people whose names have been floated in recent months are Elena Kagan, whom Mr. Obama named as his solicitor general, and two federal appeals court judges, Sonia Sotomayor and Diana Pamela Wood.

Justice Souter, 69, has been the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks because his discontent in Washington has been no secret. He was the only justice who had not hired clerks for the fall term.

Friends said Thursday evening that he had often spoken of his intentions to be the court’s first retirement if Mr. Obama won the election last fall. He told friends he looked forward to returning to New Hampshire while he was young enough to enjoy climbing mountains and other outdoor activities.

[usregimechange]

1. Wood is 58 yo, don't know much about her.

[elleng]

2. About the 3:

Elena Kagan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Kagan

Sonia Sotomayor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor

Diana Pamela Wood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Pamela_Wood

[merh]

3. "while he was young enough to enjoy climbing mountains and other outdoor activities.

At age 69, good for you Justice Souter.

[Lyric]

4. Ewwww. No WAY to Kagan and Sotomayer.

About Kagan:

"At her confirmation hearing, Kagan also drew criticism for arguing that battlefield law, including indefinite detention without a trial, could apply outside of traditional battlefields"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Kagan#Solicitor_General_nomination

Like we need another SCOTUS justice who's defending that sort of behavior. Ugh.
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About Sotomayer:

"In July 2005, a number of Senate Democrats suggested Sotomayor, among others, to President George W. Bush as a nominee acceptable to them to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The suggestion was criticized by John Lott and Sonia D. Jones on the conservative blog National Review Online as being in bad faith, because, they argued, it reflected insufficient effort on the part of the Democrats to suggest conservative nominees acceptable to Bush. Lott and Jones noted that Sotomayor was rated only "moderate" or "neutral," rather than "conservative," in a survey by the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary of courtroom lawyers regarding the political views of the judges they encounter in their litigation."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor#Possible_nomination_to_the_Supreme_Court

Hispanic or not, this woman is a moderate at best--she's not the kind of liberal we need to replace one of our few remaining liberal lions.
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I vote for Diane Wood. Anybody who pisses off Anne Coulter is probably a good bet for us:

"Early in her time on the appellate court, Wood attracted the attention of conservative columnist Ann Coulter, who ridiculed a Wood opinion that failure to provide a prisoner with a smoke-free environment constituted "cruel and unusual punishment."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1419987,judge-diana-wood-ruth-ginsberg-seat-020909.article

[usregimechange]

5. Kagan clerked for Thurgood Marshall and is the youngest of the three