The word is that Justice David Souter plans to retire. Let the speculation on his replacement begin!
Back in the day, I put my money down on 2nd Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor as Obama's first nominee. That was assuming that he'd face a intransigent Republican minority that he'd have to appease -- otherwise, I think Obama would be far more likely to nominate a more aggressively liberal lion to the bench. So, is that the situation right now? On the one hand, the Republican minority has been pretty incorrigible as of late. On the other hand, that might just show that compromise is useless. And in any event, the Senate is about to find itself with a 60 vote Democratic super-majority. But will it hold strong? I'd like to think that Harry Reid can keep his caucus in line at least for cloture motions, but never underestimate the Democratic Party's lack of a spine.
UPDATE: One thing I have been wondering about is who the first Republican will be to characterize Souter as a "moderate conservative" and demand his replacement be in the same mold? After a decade and a half of flaming him as essentially Benedict Arnold mixed with Che Guevera, I can't wait.
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Souter....Damn, I never thought I'd see the day. Say what you want, but the quiet man really lent a modicum of class to the joint.
Of course, I don't have a clue as to the public perception of the Court. About a year ago, Justice Ginsburg came to Salem Oregon (don't ask), so I went to the auditorium two hours early, just to be sure I'd get a good seat (again--don't ask). So, there are maybe a dozen people waiting when I get there. I asked this woman if "Justice Breyer" was going to be speaking. She said "You mean Justice Ginsburg?" I said yes, and apologized, explaining that I had been thinking of the latest opinion on the Guantanamo detainees (Boumediene v. Bush--I was thinking Justice Breyer had written the majority opinion. Not my swiftest day; it was actually Justice Kennedy). This woman said if it was Justice Breyer, she wouldn't have bothered to see him...and if Justice Breyer wrote the opinion supporting the detainees--well, that would be just another reason NOT to see him. In fact, this woman concluded, the only two Justices she'd be interested in seeing were Ginsburg and Roberts.
All I to think to say was some permutation of "crack whore," "head up your ass," "fucking stupid," "kidding me," and "oh." I went with the "oh," and sat as far away from this woman as I could, which made both of us happy.....
What about Diane Wood? I've seen her name pop up on pretty much every list...
She's busy teaching me Civ Pro.
Also, word is that Judge Wood might actually be too old. The trend is to appoint folks who are basically still in the cradle and have them serve for 50 years. Wood is I think 58, so she is just on the border.
Odd combination of preferences, Ginsburg and Roberts.
I haven't seen Roberts speak, but he seems kind of dull and safe. Scalia is predictably amusing; Ginsburg is sometimes interesting and sometimes dull (when I read the remarks she gives at various occasions they're usually interesting, but the one time I saw her she gave a long talk about the prior Supreme Court justices who were Columbia alum); O'Connor was quite interesting when I saw her after retirement. Thomas and Alito I've met on social occasions, where Thomas was very friendly and gregarious and Alito rather reserved (though his wife is a sweetheart).
Sotomayor also was at the social occasion where I met Alito, but I have a vague recollection that she said something that made one of my classmates unhappy -- I think it was a remark that my classmate interpreted as a put-down of women's moot court abilities or something.
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