Inside Obama's Court Deliberations: Sotomayor Most Mentioned (Stein at HuffPost)

[jefferson_dem]

Inside Obama's Court Deliberations: Sotomayor Most Mentioned

Upon hearing news that Justice David Souter would be retiring at term's end, senior White House aides hastily convened a meeting in the West Wing on Thursday night to discuss potential replacements, according to an administration official.

The meeting, in which the steps for filling the vacancy were discussed, was just one step in a Supreme Court planning process that the administration official described as intensive and months old.

Indeed, Barack Obama began preparing for the reality that now confronts him -- an opening on the country's highest court -- before he was sworn in as president, back in December. In transition meetings in both Chicago and Washington, aides to Obama identified and researched potential candidates to fill the Supreme Court bench. Obama was directly involved in the deliberations, said the official, offering guidance on the types of Court nominees would meet his standards and even personally suggesting names.

According to a Democratic strategist with knowledge of the process, many possibilities have been bandied about in these "process groups." But the one most often mentioned has been Sonia Sotomayor, the odds-on favorite who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

The Democrat noted that, in a stroke of prescience or just plain luck, the White House had actually been preparing for a vacancy to pop up sometime during the summer. "They were planning as if they were getting an opening before the end of the summer."

In this respect, they were not caught off-guard upon hearing news of Souter's impending departure. The details of how Obama and his aides have prepared themselves for a Supreme Court retirement reflects a no-stone-left-unturned approach on the part of the administration, as well as an tacit acknowledgment that filling a Court vacancy is one of the more daunting tasks a president faces.

Upon taking office, according to the administration source, the White House intensified the effort it had started during the transition. In meetings in the office of chief counsel Greg Craig, officials began reviewing possible nominees, their judicial records, and personal backgrounds.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/01/inside-obamas-court-delib_n_194887.html

[HopeOverFear]

1. k and r

[tekisui]

2. I remember the veep rumor mill.

We went through the list before Biden.

[Kdillard]

3. exactly.

[steven johnson]

4. Long list of potential nominees

There is a long list of potential SCOTUS nominees.

The two most mentioned candidates are Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood, each mentioned by all of the sources above. Next comes Elena Kagan, mentioned by six of seven. Ties are listed in no particular order.
Here they are:

-Sonia Sotomayor, 2nd Circuit appellate judge

-Diane Wood, 7th Circuit appellate judge nominated by Bill Clinton

-Elena Kagan, incoming U.S. solicitor general, served in the Clinton White House

-Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former federal prosecutor

-Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School and former Harvard law professor

-Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia

-Kim McLane Wardlaw, 9th Circuit appellate judge nominated by Bill Clinton

-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former assistant attorney general for civil rights under Bill Clinton


-Harold Hongju Koh, dean of Yale Law School, has been nominated by Obama to be legal adviser to the State Dept.

-Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago law professor

-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

-Ann Claire Williams, 7th Circuit appellate judge originally nominated by Ronald Reagan, elevated to the Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton

-Sandra Lea Lynch, chief judge of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, nominated by Bill Clinton

-Johnnie B. Rawlinson, 9th Circuite appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton

-Ruben Castillo, district court judge for Northern Illinois, nominated by Bill Clinton, also would be first Hispanic Supreme Court justice

-Merrick B. Garland, DC Circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton

-M. Margaret McKeown, 9th Circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton

-Pamela Karlan, Stanford law professor

-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano

-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

-Seth Waxman, former U.S. solicitor general, argued Boumediene v. Bush before the U.S. Supreme Court

-Teresa Wynn Roseborough, deputy assistant attorney general under Bill Clinton

-William Fletcher, 9th circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton

Another mention: Jose Cabranes, appointed by Bill Clinton to the 2nd Circuit
http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/05/souter_replacement_watch_master_list.php

[Hekate]

5. That's an impressive list, and very like Obama and his team to be so prepared. nt