The Tiers of a Conservative

ATL asked a prominent conservative activist to "rank" Obama's nominees in terms of most acceptable to least acceptable. With the exception of a Kagan/Sullivan inversion, the tiers seem amazingly tied to which candidates are seen as the most likely nominees:

In the first tier -- consisting of the most problematic nominees, with "judicial activism guaranteed" -- Levey listed three: Judge Sonia Sotomayor, of the Second Circuit; Judge Diane Wood, of the Seventh Circuit; and Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School (and one of the most famous failers of the California bar exam, along with this guy).

For the second tier -- containing nominees who are still "very liberal," but might have some respect for the rule of law, "if only because they haven't proved otherwise yet" -- Levey mentioned three: Solicitor General Elena Kagan; Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm; and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

Finally, in the third tier, Levey mentioned two names: Justice Leah Ward Sears, of the Georgia Supreme Court, and Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw, of the Ninth Circuit. He described Justice Sears and Judge Wardlaw as jurists who have at least "shown some respect for the rule of law."

We're going to see some sad little kids in the very near future.