Obama Nears Decision on Supreme Court Nominee

After sending out signals late last week that President Barack Obama was still some distance away from making a decision, the White House today indicated that an announcement of a new Supreme Court nominee may come this week. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said as much during today's briefing, and in other reports, unnamed sources also are quoted as saying, "We're getting there."

The accelerated pace comes after stories appeared that the president had additional meetings with potential nominees including Solicitor General Elena Kagan on Friday,  and federal appeals judges Merrick Garland and Sidney Thomas on earlier occasions. On Saturday, Obama also shared the stage with Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, another short-lister, during the University of Michigan commencement. Obama has also been working the phones, apparently, in talking to nominees. His questioning is said to focus on illuminating whether nominees have an appreciation of the impact of Court decisions on average citizens.

Two possible nominees seem to have taken themselves out of consideration either explicitly or because of circumstances beyond their control. Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano, asked where she stands on the short list on "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace," demurred with the comment, "I think I'm focused on a few other issues right now." Among other things, she's dealing with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the Times Square failed car-bomb incident.  Finally, there's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who made a near-Shermanesque denial of interest on NBC's "Meet the Press." She said flatly, "I do not, and never have wanted to be a judge."

Comments

[Rick]

I'm quite baffled at some of the potential names we're hearing ie; Elena Kagan, Merrick Garland, Sidney Thomas....Come on, these are practically moderate Republicans...I'm sorry but with a Democratic president who has a 59-41 majority in the senate, President Obama needs to make a much better pick, which in turn, would excite the base before the Nov. elections....

Some better replacements for Justice Stevens would be; Pamela Karlan, Harold Koh, Cass Sunstein, Kathleen Sullivan, Diane Wood, Goodwin Liu (scratch the 9th. Circuit nomination & elevate Professor Liu for the high court)...

I like President Obama, but Kagan, Garland, & S. Thomas are absolutely awful choices for the SCOTUS...

[Judge Bruce J. Einhorn (ret.), Professor of Law]

I hope that in his final deliberations over a replacement for Justice Stevens that the President will seriously consider Judge Diane Wood of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a progressive but pragmatic jurist with extensive appellate judicial experience and a proven record of working and negotiating well with more conservative judges, like Richard Posner and Frank easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit. She is an educator, a musician, and a deep thinker with a record of concern for people of all kinds in their everyday lives. The President should not back down from appointing an exponent of progressive jurisprudence, provided that she, like Judge Wood, enjoys collegial skills with jurists of all responsible views.