Thread: Obama's Supreme Court Shortlist Includes Napolitano

Obama's High Court Shortlist Includes Napolitano, Granholm

Wednesday, May 13, 2009 3:55 PM

WASHINGTON — A source tells The Associated Press that President Barack Obama is considering California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno and more than five other people as nominees for the Supreme Court.

An official familiar with Obama's decision-making said others include Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Appeals Court judges Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Pamela Wood — people who have been mentioned frequently as potential candidates.

Other people also are being considered, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House has not revealed any names.

"I don't envy him the decision, but I think he's going to make it soon," Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told The Associated Press after a private White House session. "I think when he goes out west today and tomorrow, he's going to have a lot of stuff on the airplane with him."

Obama was leaving later in the day to give a commencement speech at Arizona State University, while the debate simmers about the nomination of a successor to retiring Justice David Souter.

Asked whether the president ran any names of candidates by the senators, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said: "No. No names."

Obama's bipartisan consultation came as he zeroed in on a nominee. Souter is part of the court's liberal wing, and his replacement by the new Democratic president is not expected to change the high court's ideological balance. Obama is widely expected to appoint a woman to replace Souter, and he is under pressure from some Latino officials to name the nation's first Hispanic justice.

Obama met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on Judiciary; Leahy; and McConnell. Vice President Joe Biden, a former Judiciary Committee chairman and veteran of confirmation hearings, also attended.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama and senators reached agreement that the confirmation process "would be civil."

Obama didn't give a timeframe for his decision but indicated he wanted to get it done soon,Sessions said. "My impression was he doesn't want to let it take too long."

The White House has said Obama will not announce a decision this week. It appears increasingly likely, though, that he will do so before month's end.

One official said none of the senators present at the closed-door White House meeting mentioned the names of any potential nominees.

"The president said we may disagree on how to vote on a nominee, but we can agree on the process, or the tone of it," Sessions said. "I think that's true."

Obama wants his nominee confirmed before the Senate goes on recess for the summer in early August. But the senators would not commit to that.

Reid said the chamber would not be wedded to "arbitrary deadlines" and cautioned about the Judiciary Committee's busy schedule.

"We'll work out a decent schedule," said Leahy, who promised a fair chance for Republicans and Democrats to ask questions during confirmation hearings. "Let's get the nominee first."

An emerging point of debate is Obama's insistence that his nominee be someone who is willing to show "empathy" in making rulings. Some Republicans have balked at the notion, including Sessions, who wrote an op-ed in the Wednesday editions of The Washington Post prodding Obama not to pick someone who would rule based on personal feelings.

Asked whether that matter came up, McConnell said: "We did have a discussion about the importance of following the law, and not acting like a legislator on the bench."

Should Obama make his pick shortly, that would leave June and July for his nominee to get through the vetting process, with voting presumably taking place in the Senate by August. It is possible, however, that the confirmation process would carry on into September.

Leahy said he sees no problem in having a nominee confirmed by the start of the new court session in October.

Associated Press writers David Espo and Chuck Babington contributed to this story.

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/us_o ... 13999.html

An official familiar with Obama's decision-making said others include Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Appeals Court judges Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Pamela Wood — people who have been mentioned frequently as potential candidates.

This is the first I've heard of this. Who would replace Nappy as DHS?

FOX News Poll: Pick Supreme Court Justice Based On Experience

Thursday, May 14, 2009
By Dana Blanton

Americans think judicial experience should be the most important factor in selecting the next Supreme Court justice, far outdistancing other qualities such as the nominee's race, gender, sexual preference, and issue positions.

The latest FOX News poll shows nearly half of voters nationwide — 45 percent — think judicial experience should be the "single most important factor" in picking the next justice. Five percent say being a woman should be the single most important factor, 4 percent say being a minority and 4 percent say being a homosexual. About 1 in 10 people (12 percent) think sharing Barack Obama's views on key issues should be the single most important quality.

On the flip side, large majorities think it shouldn't matter whether the nominee is a woman (75 percent), a minority (75 percent) or a homosexual (66 percent). Far fewer, though still a large 47 percent minority, think it should not matter whether the nominee shares Obama's views.

Click here to see the full poll results.

Even among women, hardly any — 7 percent — say picking a woman should be the "single most important" factor. Right now, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is the only woman on the Supreme Court.

When asked to choose between a female nominee and a minority nominee, all things being equal, nearly three times as many say they would rather the next nominee be a woman — 35 percent to 13 percent. About half (47 percent) had no preference. Among women, 42 percent prefer a woman, 10 percent say a minority and 44 percent say either.

Over half of the public — 60 percent — says they are very or somewhat comfortable with Obama appointing the next justice, slightly higher than the 54 percent who said they were comfortable with former President Bush making the selection back in June 2005 when Justice Sandra Day O'Connor stepped down.

Even the partisan split is about the same: 24 percent of Republicans say they are comfortable with Obama picking the next justice, while 22 percent of Democrats said they were comfortable with Bush doing so back in 2005.

Americans who are "pro-choice" on the issue of abortion are significantly more likely than "pro-life" Americans to say they are comfortable with Obama selecting the next justice (77 percent and 45 percent respectively).

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from May 12 to May 13. The poll has a 3-point error margin.

As for judicial philosophy, by 60 percent to 26 percent Americans think the Supreme Court should interpret the U.S. Constitution based on what the Framers meant when they wrote it rather than on what feels appropriate in today's world.

Justice Clinton? Gore? Winfrey?

More people think Hillary Clinton would make a good Supreme Court justice than think former Vice President Al Gore or media mogul Oprah Winfrey would do a good job sitting on the highest court in the land.

For Clinton, 42 percent think she would make a good justice, while 32 percent think Gore would and 16 percent think Oprah would. Women (48 percent) are more likely than men (35 percent) to think Clinton would be a good justice. For Oprah, there is less of a gender gap: 20 percent of women and 13 percent of men think she would do a good job.

You Too Could Be A Justice

Supreme Court justices do not have to be lawyers, so what about an average Joe or Jane American for the court? Quite a few people think that would be a good idea.

While 58 percent of Americans think Obama should pick one of the "smartest legal minds available," some 38 percent think he should go with a "regular everyday American."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520209,00.html

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THATS THE FUNNIEST CRAP I HAVE HEARD ALL WEEK AND SHOWS YOU WHAT AN IDIOT OBAMA IS

YOU KNOW THIS COUNTRY IS ON IT'S DEATH BED WHEN THIS IS THE BEST WE HAVE TO OFFER IT'S CITIZENS ON THE SUPREME COURT