US Supreme Court Nominee Short List

     Sen. Leahy and Sen. McConnell met with the President today to discuss the Nominee to fill Justice David Souter’s seat on the US Supreme Court

     The short list includes Governor Grandholm of Michigan, Solicitor General nominee Elena Kagan,  and Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who favors judges doing some “legislating” from the bench. The “thorn” that sticks out off of the list is Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Who is calling the shots at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!!?

“Justices Role is to Legislate”: Potential Justice Nominee believes Justices should Legislate Policy as well; Highly Unconstitutional

Mr. Obama, Lady Justice Has a Blindfold for a Reason

Note the Blindfold, Mr. President

Mr. President, Lady Justice wears a blindfold for a reason.

She is not to know of strife. She is not to know of circumstance. She is not to know of wealth or poverty, strength or weakness, education or illiteracy, gifted oratory or bumbling foolishness.

Obviously, Mr. President, you know not the role of the judiciary.

Your remarks today showed complete ignorance as to the designated function of two of the three branches of the very government you lead. You say that “justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook,” but it is. That “abstract legal theory,” Mr. President, is the United States Constitution, a document you have in the past derided as being fundamentally flawed. You say that justice is “about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives,” but you’re wrong. Making law is the role of legislators; a judge’s role is to interpret it and nothing more. You would know this, sir, if you had spent more time in the U.S. Senate actually legislating rather than preening and campaigning.

For America’s Right’s full article: http://www.americasright.com/2009/05/note-blindfold-mr-president.html

Women, Hispanics, Minorities top Rumored List for Souter Replacement; Obama wants “life experience” that will garner “sympathies”.

     Using his speech to Planned Parenthood in 2007, a list of possible nominees for the seat that is rumored to becoming vacant on the Supreme Court, the Obama base and the Conservatives are already squaring off for what will undoubtedly be a “Battle Royal” if Justice David Souter does retire at the end of this term.

“We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that’s the criteria by which I’m going to be selecting my judges,” he told a Planned Parenthood conference in 2007.

The list includes:

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who sits on the federal appeals court in New York, demonstrates many of the political qualifications that might be sought in any selection. In addition to whatever legal and judicial skills Judge Sotomayor offers, she is a template for several of the characteristics that Mr. Obama might seek: a woman of Hispanic heritage, at age 54 she would be able to sit on the court for many years and brings an appealing personal story. Judge Sotomayor grew up in a public housing project in the Bronx and went on to Princeton and the Yale Law School before becoming a federal trial judge and then an appeals court judge.

–Elena Kagan, 49, formerly dean of Harvard Law School. She served as deputy domestic policy adviser in President Clinton’s White House. Clinton nominated her to the D.C. Circuit in 1999 but she never got a hearing. Considered liberal, but perhaps not as liberal as others. Made a point to reach out to conservatives while at Harvard.

—Kathleen Sullivan, 53, a professor and former dean at Stanford Law School. A Constitutional law expert, she has argued several cases before the Supreme Court and formerly taught at Harvard Law. Considered a liberal.

—Harold Koh, 54, dean of Yale Law School. He is currently Obama’s nominee to be the chief legal adviser at the State Department, but his nomination has encountered heavy opposition from Republicans. Also considered a liberal pick.

—Cass Sunstein, 54, an Obama friend from the University of Chicago Law School and Obama’s nominee to run the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Considered a moderate.

– Ann Williams, 59, sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. An African-American woman, she could be tough for Republicans to oppose because she was first appointed as a federal district court judge in 1985 by Reagan. Clinton elevated her to the appeals court. Considered a moderate.

     Of those on the list, Koh will be the one to draw the most debate in the confirmation process.

For full articles: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/us/02search.html?hp

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090501/pl_politico/21972;_ylt=AsX4JnAwgMWjHOQYTkht7fas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJjamdudDFxBGFzc2V0A3BvbGl0aWNvLzIwMDkwNTAxLzIxOTcyBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNqdXN0aWNlc291dGU-

Justice Souter to Retire; 1st Test of Obama’s LongTerm Agenda

     After nearly two decades on the United States Supreme Court, Associate Justice David Souter is announcing that he will be retiring from the bench. He is expected to serve until his replacement is nominated by Pres. Barack Obama and conformed by the Senate.

       Justice Souter was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1990 by Pres. George H.W. Bush. Souter was initially cast as a conservative on the Court, but has moved toward the liberal side, voting most often with the liberal side of the present Court. Justices Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer are generally thought of as the Court’s liberal wing.

     The retirement of Justice Souter presents the Obama White House with its first big test of establishing the Obama agenda for the longterm. It is thought that this Presidency will have the opportunity to make two, if not three, appointments, given Justice Stevens age (88), and Justice Ginsberg’s health. Given that all three of these Justices make up the present liberal wing, an appointment of a Justice with similar ideology may well have little affect on the Robert’s Court. Additionally, given the fact that Souter was initially appointed for his conservatism, it is not out of the realm of possibility that at least one Obama appointee may disappoint his leftist base.

      And it is that “base” that will now be Obama’s test. His first federal judge appointee is an avid ACORN fundraiser and supporter. His challenge for his appointee for Souter’s seat will be to satisfy his base while at the same time not appearing to be leaning too far off the centrist view. An initial list of possible appointees has probably already been prepared, particularly in light of Justice Ginsberg’s cancer surgery. But she has made it clear that she has no intentions of stepping down in the near future.

       Whoever the appointee is, they will be in for a volatile confirmation process, so let’s hope the vetting is far better than it has been for the Cabinet positions.

^{Update: As of 1:45pm EST, there had been no official announcement from the Court, and Pres. Obama deferred any questions about Souter’s retirement. It had been noted in recent weeks that Souter was the only Justice who had not yet hired law clerks for the next session.}

^{UPDATE: Pres. Obama interrupted  his Press Secretary, ROBERT GLIBB, to announce that he had spoken with Justice Souter, and had accepted his resignation. Let the Judicial Games begin!}

 ^{http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/us/02search.html?hp}