Who Will Replace Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court?
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, 89, is almost certainly going to retire at the end of the month. Bloomberg think they know who's lined up to replace him. Here's your guide to the rumored candidates.
Elena Kagan is currently US Solicitor General, and is also a lady. Which will probably freak the Republicans out, as they like them a nice old white guy where possible. She has plenty of experience arguing in front of the court, and was previously the dean of Harvard Law School. However. When they Republicans decide to oppose whoever Obama suggests because they just hate everyone and everything that is not Republican, they will probably pick on the same things that they picked on in opposing her Solicitor General-ship. Namely: she opposed on-campus military recruiting at Harvard.
Diane Wood is also a lady. She's a federal appellate judge on the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago and Bloomberg say she's "developed a reputation there as an intellectual jurist willing to take on her more conservative colleagues," which is probably valuable experience for the Supreme Court. She worked in the Clinton administration, so there's bound to be some non-controversy the Republicans can dig up on her.
Merrick Garland, who is on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is a man and also the most conservative of the potential replacements. He went to Harvard Law, and helped prosecute Timothy McVeigh. Who knows what the GOP will find wrong with him — he also served under Clinton — but they will certainly find something.
Of course, it might be none of these. The Bloomberg article also mentions "Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and then-Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears of the Georgia Supreme Court," as well as Martha Minow, the current dean of Harvard Law.