Obama and the Supreme Court: The next big brawl?

[240 is Back]

What qualifications are needed to become a US Supreme Court justice?
 
Answer

The Constitution of the United States establishes no requirements to be appointed a Justice on the Supreme Court. However, Presidents usually appoint people who have been lawyers or judges or in some way trained in the law.

Practical Considerations


•To be nominated for the position by the current President, and to be accepted and approved by the US Senate. Educational achievements required are not specified. Prior service in the US Court system is not required. Acceptance by the American Bar Association is not required. Just appoint them and approve them, and their job is secure for life.

•While Article III of the Constitution does not specify the qualifications required of a Supreme Court Justice, or specify the size of the court, it does empower Congress to create legislation or make collective decisions that result in de facto requirements.
•Because members of the Supreme Court must be experts on the Constitution, Constitutional law, and federal law, all past and present members of the Supreme Court have been attorneys.

Those who were commissioned before the mid- to late-19th century learned the law by studying and apprenticing with more experienced attorneys; states didn't mandate licensing until the 20th-century.

•Of the 111 Supreme Court members, only 46 have held degrees from accredited law schools; 18 attended law school, but never attained a degree; and 47 were self-taught and/or went through an apprenticeship.
•The first Justice to graduate from law school was Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Harvard class of 1832, appointed to the bench in 1851.
•The last sitting Justice without a formal law degree was Stanley Forman Reed, who served from 1938-1957.
•Today, nominees are judged by the quality of the law school attended and the extent of their experience on the bench. Twenty-two of the 47 degreed candidates graduated from Harvard or Yale, while a number of the remainder graduated from other T14 (Top 14) schools.
•On the current Court, five Justices went to Harvard, two to Yale, one to Columbia and one to Northwestern.
•Credentials have become so important over the last 50 years that, when Richard Nixon named Mildred Lillie and Hershel Friday as potential nominees for the Court in 1971, the American Bar Association objected on the grounds that they were unqualified for the position, and their names were withdrawn from the pool. The ABA also objected to President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, his personal attorney and White House counsel, to the bench in 2005.
•Public service and political connections also factor heavily into the nomination process. For example, all but one appointee, George Shiras, Jr. (served 1892-1903), has held public office or been a judge prior to nomination, and three-fifths of the nominees have been personal acquaintances of the President who nominated them.
•While the Constitution stipulates no minimum or maximum age for judicial service, most nominees are under the age of 60, to help ensure a long tenure on the court. Most are in their 40s or 50s when appointed. The youngest Justice ever seated was Joseph Story, at the age of 32, in 1812; the oldest at time of appointment was Charles Evan Hughes, who was 67, in 1930.
•Most of the 111 Supreme Court members have been white, male, protestants. The first Jewish Justice was Louis Brandeis, commissioned in 1916; the first of only two African-Americans was Thurgood Marshall, commissioned in 1967 (the second being Clarence Thomas, who replaced Marshall); the first of three females was Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, commissioned in 1981, and retired in 2006. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and new Justice Sonia Sotomayor are currently serving. In addition to being the only the third female member of the Court, Sonia Sotomayor is also the first Latina commissioned.

[Dos Equis]

Names added to Supreme Court short list
By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer
April 12, 2010

Washington (CNN) -- A federal judge from Montana and the dean of Harvard's law school are among several names being added to the short list of potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court, a government source said.

Sidney Thomas, a 14-year veteran on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, is being vetted by the White House, said the source, who has been regularly consulted in the selection process.

Two women who were not on other published lists of potential candidates are now being seriously considered.

Harvard Law school dean Martha Minow has been on the school's faculty since 1981. And Elizabeth Warren heads the Congressional Oversight Panel, which reviews government efforts to boost the shaky financial and private investment sector. Neither woman has judicial experience.

Sources close to the selection process said the new names represent an effort to expand what had been a short list of candidates, many of them left over after last year's court vacancy was filled by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Some White House officials have been urging the president to expand the list of possibles to include more non-judges and people with different backgrounds and from other regions of the country. All the current justices except the retiring John Paul Stevens are Ivy League law school graduates.

Thomas, who is white, was born in Bozeman, Montana, in 1953. He is little-known and has attracted little fanfare beyond the San Francisco, California-based court, which is considered the most liberal among the nation's 13 appeals courts.

Among rulings he authored was a 2006 decision in Nadarajah v. Gonzalez, in which Thomas concluded that the government illegally detained Ahilan Nadarajah for four years while the Justice Department appealed a grant of asylum. The man is a member of the Tamil ethnic minority and asserted that he was tortured and persecuted by members of the Sinhalese majority.

Minow is the daughter of former Federal Communications Commission head Newt Minow. She clerked for former Justice Thurgood Marshall. In her mid-50s, Minow replaced as dean the woman considered near the top of potential high court nominees, Elena Kagan, now solicitor general.

Warren is also a Harvard law professor. She has been a regular on the talk-show circuit, including CNN, to discuss the economy's effect on families. The Oklahoma native has also co-authored two books with her daughter.

One name mentioned by some analysts for years as a potential blockbuster choice has been all but ruled out for consideration.

Supporters of Hillary Clinton have long touted her credentials, but White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Monday that the president "thinks Secretary Clinton is doing an excellent job as secretary of state and wants her to remain in that position."

The White House has given no indication when Obama will name a successor to Stevens, who announced Friday that he will retire this year. Stevens has been on the high court nearly 35 years and leads the four-justice liberal bloc.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/12/scotus.justice.names/index.html?hpt=T1

[Dos Equis]

Good move. 

Obama invites senators from both parties to discuss vacancy
Posted: April 13th, 2010

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama has invited senators from both parties to a meeting to talk about the upcoming Supreme Court vacancy, the White House announced Tuesday.

Obama invited the Senate's majority and minority leaders - Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada and Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - as well as the Democratic chairman and ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee - Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the White House said in a statement.

The meeting to discuss the opening created by the upcoming retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens will be on April 21 at the White House, according to the statement.


http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/?fbid=XPBeW4MfwYo

[Soul Crusher]

obama to everyone else "I won" 

[Dos Equis]

obama to everyone else "I won" 

lol.  Just a tad cynical?   

[Dos Equis]

Sources: Obama expected to make high court pick by early May
Posted: April 14th, 2010

From CNN Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears
 
The search for a new Supreme Court justice is underway, and sources tell CNN a nominee is expected by early May.
Washington (CNN) – The White House search for a new Supreme Court justice is progressing smoothly, say government sources close to the selection process, who expect President Obama to make a decision by early May.

The three favorites for the seat continue to receive the most attention among the small group of officials in charge of narrowing a "short list" of about ten names. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, and federal appeals judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland currently have the edge over others being considered, said those sources.

–Administration sources say Elizabeth Warren - the financial industry watchdog - has been quietly taken off the short list, but is still among a larger group of candidates being considered by the White House. She is now getting much less scrutiny than some of the favorites.


–Judge Sidney Thomas, a Montana native who sits on the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was a surprise to many court watchers and has held has a fairly low profile over the years. But sources say he has several high profile champions of his candidacy. Thomas was recommended for the judgeship by Sen. Max Baucus, who has publicly and privately pushed his candidacy. While in private practice, Thomas volunteered for the senator's first campaign. Another booster is Baucus' former chief of staff Jim Messina, who now works in the White House as deputy chief of staff. And Ian Bassin, now deputy associate counsel to the president, used to clerk for Thomas four years ago. The Counsel's Office is spearheading the Court nomination.

–Another top candidate from last year's high court vacancy is again on the short list. Justice Carolos Moreno of the California Supreme Court was moved up to the list of finalists. The 61-year-old judge is the only Democrat and only Hispanic on the seven-member bench. Some legal sources believe Moreno's name may be simple political outreach to the Hispanic community, building on the successful confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor in 2009. Moreno also has the strong support of the state's two Democratic senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

–Gov. Deval Patrick remains not interested in a high court job, telling supporters over the weekend he is focused on his re-election bid. He has previously downplayed his chances, but has supporters inside the White House. He and the president are old friends.

–Others removing their name from consideration are Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, both members of the Judiciary Committee that will hold confirmation hearings for the nominee. Klobuchar's chances were considered slim all along, since a Republican governor would name her temporary replacement in the Senate. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is also out of the running, said government sources.

–Leah Ward Sears, the former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court is a legal pioneer as the first African-American woman on the court. She now is in private practice in Atlanta. Her professional resume has a number of noteworthy "firsts," combined with what one source called a "sparkling" personality, and an inspiring personal rise from humble roots . But officials privately acknowledge they are aware of some unease among liberals. A recognized expert on family law, Sears has attracted controversy for her involvement in the Institute of American Values, which supports "traditional" marriage, and whose founder opposes gay marriage. The 54-year-old Sears is overseas this week speaking on behalf of the group. She was also fined in 2007 for violating state ethics laws when accepting improper campaign contributions. She is close friends with fellow Savannah-native Justice Clarence Thomas, whom she invited to her swearing-in as state chief justice.

Justice John Paul Stevens announced last Friday his intention to retire from the court after nearly 35 years on the bench.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/14/sources-obama-expected-to-make-high-court-pick-by-early-may/?fbid=XPBeW4MfwYo#more-99611

[Dos Equis]

Supreme Court justices by president
April 9, 2010

A Supreme Court justice is appointed for life, meaning the High Court's turnover is not great. Take a look at Supreme Court justices nominated by presidents since 1975.

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)
- John Paul Stevens (1975)

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
Carter did not appoint anyone

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
- Sandra Day O'Connor (1981)
- Antonin Scalia (1986),
- Anthony M. Kennedy (1987)

George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
- David Souter (1990)
- Clarence Thomas (1991)

Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993)
- Stephen G. Breyer (1994)

George W. Bush (2001-2009)
- John Roberts (2005)
- Samuel Alito (2005)

Barack Obama (2009-present)
- Sonia Sotomayor (2009)

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/09/presidents.nominees/index.html

[Dos Equis]

Bill Clinton: Look Beyond Judges for High Court
Sunday, 18 Apr 2010

Bill Clinton says someone who hasn't been a judge should be considered for the Supreme Court.

But scratch the idea of the ex-president or his wife as a justice.

Clinton suggested that President Barack Obama follow a model that Clinton used when he tried unsuccessfully to persuade then-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to agree to be nominated to the high court.

Justice John Paul Stevens' recent decision to retire hands Obama a second chance to shape the court.

Clinton, who has not been a judge, said that at 63, told ABC's "This Week" that he's too old to be considered, much as he might enjoy serving on the Supreme Court. He said his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, also might have been interested in past years, but not now.

Bill Clinton, who also had two court vacancies during his first years in office, ended up nominating two federal appeals court judges, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Ginsburg was 60 and Breyer was in his early 50s.

The former president urged Obama to pick someone around 50 years old.

Obama's Democratic predecessor in the White House says Cuomo and Mitchell, who had been a judge before serving in the Senate, would have made good justices, but both turned him down. He said he hopes Obama takes a look at someone who hasn't been a judge.

Among those reported to be under consideration, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 49, has never been a judge.

Others who fit that description are Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, 52, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, 51 and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, 53.

Last year, Obama chose another federal appellate judge, Sonia Sotomayor.

http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/bill-Clinton-Supreme-Court/2010/04/18/id/356059

[240 is Back]

I think Drinking with Bob would be an awesome addition to the Supreme Court.

A dose of common sense.

[Soul Crusher]

Another Bull Dyke who looks like Jaba the Hut.  What is it with Liberals and their love of fat ugly nasty lesibians?
________________________ ________________________ ________________________ _____ 

Obama’s potential Supreme Court pick banned military recruiting at Harvard Law. Peter Beinart on how that stance has damaged liberals—and why conservatives are right to bash her for it.
www.dailybeast.com

President Obama is about to nominate someone for the Supreme Court. On the day he or she is unveiled, conservatives will announce that they are approaching the selection with an open mind. Ten minutes later they will declare, more in sadness than anger, that the nominee has the judicial philosophy of Chairman Mao and the temperament of Dennis Rodman. Ten minutes after that, liberals will rise en masse to defend the nominee as wise, brilliant and humane, a person who restores our faith in humankind. And the kabuki theater will continue like that all summer long.

I can’t blame my fellow liberals for playing along; if the other side fires, we have to fire back. But there’s one exception. If Solicitor General Elana Kagan gets the nod, conservatives will beat the hell out of her for opposing military recruitment on campus when she was dean of Harvard Law School. And liberals should concede the point; the conservatives will be right.

Barring the military from campus is a bit like barring the president or even the flag. It’s more than a statement of criticism; it’s a statement of national estrangement.

“I abhor the military’s discriminatory recruitment policy,” wrote Kagan in 2003. It is “a profound wrong—a moral injustice of the first order.” So far, so good. Not allowing openly gay and lesbian Americans into the military is a grave moral injustice and it is a disgrace that so many Republicans defend the policy to this day. But the response that Kagan favoredbanning military recruiters from campus—was stupid and counterproductive. I think it showed bad judgment.

The United States military is not Procter and Gamble. It is not just another employer. It is the institution whose members risk their lives to protect the country. You can disagree with the policies of the American military; you can even hate them, but you can’t alienate yourself from the institution without in a certain sense alienating yourself from the country. Barring the military from campus is a bit like barring the president or even the flag. It’s more than a statement of criticism; it’s a statement of national estrangement.

• Linda Hirshman: Sexual Orientation and the Supreme CourtI doubt that’s how Kagan or her fellow administrators meant it. But it is certainly the way it has been received. It’s no coincidence that most Ivy League schools banned ROTC in the late 1960s, at exactly the moment liberalism was committing hara-kiri. The perception that liberals are unpatriotic stems from that moment in time and from actions just like that. And while the charge is and always has been unfair, banning recruiters from campus does suggest a somewhat impoverished understanding of patriotism. Yes, dissent is patriotic, as liberals love to declaim, but assent is an important part of patriotism too. Saying you show your love for your country only through criticism is like saying you show your love for your spouse only through criticism. It isn’t likely to go over well.

And it hasn’t. Banning the military from elite campuses hasn’t only helped generations of Nixons, Atwaters and Roves beat Democrats at the polls; it has also helped create a military that stands firmly on the red side of the culture war. As Michael Neiberg shows in his 2001 book, Making Citizen-Soldiers, the Ivy League administrators of the early 20th Century believed ROTC served a fundamentally liberal purpose. It infused the military with the spirit of intellectual openness found in the academy and thus “prevent[ed] the creation” of a narrow, isolated “military caste.” Today, thanks to administrators like Kagan, however, the military recruits mostly on the campuses of the South and West, and thus, the officer corps has become overwhelmingly Republican. The best way for Ivy League liberals to remedy anti-gay discrimination in the military—and to infuse it with liberal values more generally—would be to encourage the military to recruit from among their ranks, as those administrators urge a century ago. Instead, actions like Kagan’s have helped make the Ivy League and the military separate and sometimes hostile worlds, and both have suffered as a result.

Were Kagan to be passed over for the Supreme Court because of her views on military recruitment, many liberals would likely consider it unfair. But it would make ambitious Ivy League administrators think twice because succumbing to the left-wing mindlessness that sometimes prevails on campus. And it would further one of President Obama’s signature efforts: his bid to draw America’s almost half-century long culture war to a close. If that requires conceding that conservatives are right about something, so be it. I’m sure it won’t happen again anytime soon.

Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. His new book, The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, will be published by HarperCollins in June. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

For more of The Daily Beast, become a fan on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com

[Dos Equis]

Sounds like she is the frontrunner. 

[Soul Crusher]

Sounds like she is the frontrunner. 

She looks like Rufus the Butcher down the street.   

[Dos Equis]

She looks like Rufus the Butcher down the street.   

lol   

[George Whorewell]

Ughh... She looks like NJ Gov. elect Chris Christie in drag

[Soul Crusher]

Wise Latina woman meet First Homosexual Lesbian Justice?
 

Solicitor General Elena Kagan

The White House ripped CBS News on Thursday for publishing an online column by a blogger who made assertions about the sexual orientation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, widely viewed as a leading candidate for the Supreme Court.-- Howard Kurtz
The White house vehemently denies rumors that their leading candidate for replacing Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan, is lesbian. (Not that anything is wrong with being Lesbian) But you’d think that there was if a homosexual was ever nominated to the Supreme Court and the White house attempted to hide the fact until that person was confirmed. (see story)

Just think of the slap in the face of all Homosexuals if one of their own had to be snuck onto the court. Where’s the pride in that?


Ben Domenech, a former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate staffer, wrote that President Obama would "please" much of his base by picking the "first openly gay justice." An administration official, who asked not to be identified discussing personal matters, said Kagan is not a lesbian.—Howard Kutz

First CBS refused to retract the story but after coordinated attacks against the Broadcast company and the poster of the original story by Anita Dunn, a former White House communications director who is working with the administration on the high court vacancy. You remember Ms. Dunn who lost her White house post when she said that one of her favorite political philosophers is Mao Tse Tung.

Dunn smeared the broadcast company and Mr. Domenech by stating that they had become enablers of people posting lies on their site. She further denigrated the broadcast company by remarking, “[this] tells us where the journalistic standards of CBS are in 2010."


A White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, said he complained to CBS because the column "made false charges." Domenech later added an update to the post: "I have to correct my text here to say that Kagan is apparently still closeted -- odd, because her female partner is rather well known in Harvard circles."

After such reporting, Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic picked up the story as rumors among gay rights activist and social conservatives that Elena Kagan, is lesbian.


Solicitor General Elena Kagan, the woman who tops President Obama's short list for the Supreme Court, is the subject of a baffling whisper campaign among both gay rights activists and social conservatives: those whispering assume she's gay, and they want her -- or someone -- the media! -- to acknowledge it.—Marc Ambinder(see article)

Will the White house make the Kagan story an embarrassing spectacle for all homosexuals by attempting to hide the fact that they are ashamed that their nominee is Lesbian if in fact she is?
Posted by Alaphiah at 3:30 AM 

[Dos Equis]

Is she married?

[Soul Crusher]

Yeah, to the refrigerator and Salvation Army clothing bin. 

[Dos Equis]

Doh!  That's just wrong.  lol . . . .

[Soul Crusher]

Doh!  That's just wrong.  lol . . . .

Bro - I'm taking no prisoners anymore.   

[George Whorewell]

I have to say this about Obama-- when it comes to looking like your typical liberal he is a needle in the haystack. Every single prominent liberal in politics looks like something out of a horror movie. It's almost like the more repulsive they look, the further they are likely to progrress in terms of political clout.

David Waxman may be the worst of all time though.

[Soul Crusher]

I have to say this about Obama-- when it comes to looking like your typical liberal he is a needle in the haystack. Every single prominent liberal in politics looks like something out of a horror movie. It's almost like the more repulsive they look, the further they are likely to progrress in terms of political clout.

David Waxman may be the worst of all time though.

Like Rush says - the Democrat party is like the Star Wars bar scene.

 

[BM OUT]

What qualifications are needed to become a US Supreme Court justice?
 
Answer

The Constitution of the United States establishes no requirements to be appointed a Justice on the Supreme Court. However, Presidents usually appoint people who have been lawyers or judges or in some way trained in the law.

Practical Considerations


•To be nominated for the position by the current President, and to be accepted and approved by the US Senate. Educational achievements required are not specified. Prior service in the US Court system is not required. Acceptance by the American Bar Association is not required. Just appoint them and approve them, and their job is secure for life.

•While Article III of the Constitution does not specify the qualifications required of a Supreme Court Justice, or specify the size of the court, it does empower Congress to create legislation or make collective decisions that result in de facto requirements.
•Because members of the Supreme Court must be experts on the Constitution, Constitutional law, and federal law, all past and present members of the Supreme Court have been attorneys.

Those who were commissioned before the mid- to late-19th century learned the law by studying and apprenticing with more experienced attorneys; states didn't mandate licensing until the 20th-century.

•Of the 111 Supreme Court members, only 46 have held degrees from accredited law schools; 18 attended law school, but never attained a degree; and 47 were self-taught and/or went through an apprenticeship.
•The first Justice to graduate from law school was Benjamin Robbins Curtis, Harvard class of 1832, appointed to the bench in 1851.
•The last sitting Justice without a formal law degree was Stanley Forman Reed, who served from 1938-1957.
•Today, nominees are judged by the quality of the law school attended and the extent of their experience on the bench. Twenty-two of the 47 degreed candidates graduated from Harvard or Yale, while a number of the remainder graduated from other T14 (Top 14) schools.
•On the current Court, five Justices went to Harvard, two to Yale, one to Columbia and one to Northwestern.
•Credentials have become so important over the last 50 years that, when Richard Nixon named Mildred Lillie and Hershel Friday as potential nominees for the Court in 1971, the American Bar Association objected on the grounds that they were unqualified for the position, and their names were withdrawn from the pool. The ABA also objected to President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, his personal attorney and White House counsel, to the bench in 2005.
•Public service and political connections also factor heavily into the nomination process. For example, all but one appointee, George Shiras, Jr. (served 1892-1903), has held public office or been a judge prior to nomination, and three-fifths of the nominees have been personal acquaintances of the President who nominated them.
•While the Constitution stipulates no minimum or maximum age for judicial service, most nominees are under the age of 60, to help ensure a long tenure on the court. Most are in their 40s or 50s when appointed. The youngest Justice ever seated was Joseph Story, at the age of 32, in 1812; the oldest at time of appointment was Charles Evan Hughes, who was 67, in 1930.
•Most of the 111 Supreme Court members have been white, male, protestants. The first Jewish Justice was Louis Brandeis, commissioned in 1916; the first of only two African-Americans was Thurgood Marshall, commissioned in 1967 (the second being Clarence Thomas, who replaced Marshall); the first of three females was Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, commissioned in 1981, and retired in 2006. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and new Justice Sonia Sotomayor are currently serving. In addition to being the only the third female member of the Court, Sonia Sotomayor is also the first Latina commissioned.

And yet Robert Bork was turned down by far leftist idiots like the drunken Ted Kennedy and the idiot Joe Biden because he was idealogical.Never mind he was more qualified then anyone on the court,never mind that his intellect was so far beyond dim wits like Biden and Kennedy it was a joke.

Republicans need to start playing the same way.Fillibuster ANYONE Obama nominates just like Obama wanted to fillibuster Alito.

[Dos Equis]

I like the fact he is having these discussions. 

It's too bad presidents have to keep lying about litmus tests:  "I don't have litmus tests around any of these issues," Obama said, adding that he wanted a nominee "who is going to be interpreting our constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women's rights."


Obama discusses Supreme Court pick with Senate leaders
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 21, 2010

(CNN)

The president welcomed Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada; Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky; Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont; and the Judiciary panel's ranking Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, to the White House meeting. Vice President Joe Biden also attended.

Stevens, who turned 90 on Tuesday, has announced that he will retire shortly after the Supreme Court's term ends in late June. White House officials have said they expect the president to pick his nominee by early May.

In brief comments before the meeting, Obama said he wants a new justice to support individual rights, including women's rights, but he stopped short of insisting that his nominee must support abortion rights.

"I don't have litmus tests around any of these issues," Obama said, adding that he wanted a nominee "who is going to be interpreting our constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women's rights."

Obama noted that a core constitutional value promotes the notion that "individuals are protected in their privacy and in their bodily integrity, and women are not exempt from that."

Obama has been privately reaching out this week to candidates for the pending Supreme Court vacancy, an administration source said Tuesday. It was unclear which names on the White House short list of about 10 people are being given the most scrutiny.

In his brief remarks before Wednesday's meeting, Obama said Stevens leaves "tough shoes to fill."

The president noted that his first Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, won Senate confirmation last summer in plenty of time to join the court for the start of its next session in the fall. Obama said he expects another "smooth, civil and thoughtful nomination process and confirmation process" this time.

"I'm confident that we can come up with a nominee that will gain the confidence of the Senate and the confidence of the country," Obama said.

After the meeting, Leahy and Reid said it was a good discussion, but they declined to discuss specifics. Initially, government sources said three names had the early edge: Solicitor General Elena Kagan and federal appeals judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland.

However, officials now say the president had expanded the list of names he wanted his staff to vet before he makes his decision. Others being considered include Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Montana-based federal appeals judge Sidney Thomas.

A national poll released this week suggests that a majority of Americans expect Obama to appoint a liberal to the Supreme Court, but only one in four wants that to happen.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey indicates that 61 percent of the public expect the president to nominate a liberal to replace Stevens on the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, 21 percent said the president will name a moderate, and 16 percent said he would name a conservative.

Many experts say Obama is likely to name a relatively left-leaning justice because he is fairly liberal himself and wants a justice who shares his basic political and judicial philosophy. Stevens, as the senior associate justice, is the leader of the four liberal members of the nine-member court, so his replacement is unlikely to significantly change the ideological balance on the court.

Many progressive groups have urged Obama to name an outspoken, forceful liberal to the court, to help curtail what they see as the conservative dominance on that bench. Other Democrats have urged a more moderate choice who would be more acceptable to a bipartisan group of senators and who would avoid a protracted political fight over the nominee.

On Tuesday, Obama took time to send a birthday letter to the retiring judge.

"Our system of justice and our nation are stronger and fairer because of your sterling contributions. On behalf of the country, I thank you for your distinguished service," Obama wrote.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/21/obama.supreme.court/index.html?hpt=T2

[Straw Man]

Another Bull Dyke who looks like Jaba the Hut.  What is it with Liberals and their love of fat ugly nasty lesibians?

what does her looks have to do with her ability to do the job

it's comments like this that show how truly shallow you are as a human being

[Soul Crusher]

what does her looks have to do with her ability to do the job

it's comments like this that show how truly shallow you are as a human being

Funny considering the insults the left hurled at Meyers, Bork, Thomas, etc.