With the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, President Barack Obama has a huge list of potential Supreme Court nominees to choose from. These twelve names seem particularly viable.
Elena Kagan - U.S. Solicitor General and Former Dean of Harvard Law School
If there were a clear non-judicial frontrunner on this list, it would be Elena Kagan. Her academic credentials are impeccable, and she holds the same position--U.S. solicitor general--that perennial Bush Supreme Court shortlister Theodore Olsen held during the previous administration.
Diane Wood - Judge, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Some Court-watchers believe that Wood, who taught alongside Obama at the University of Chicago Law School, may stand a better chance of nomination than anyone else on this list due partly to her long, formidable, and progressive history on what is generally considered a fairly moderate appeals court.
Merrick Garland - Judge, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals
Garland has two things going for him: he's uncontroversial, and he has a good record on War on Terror-related civil liberties issues. But progressive activists will feel that Obama can do better than a 57-year-old moderate, and they're probably right.Pamela S. Karlan - Professor of Public Interest Law, Stanford Law School
As the principal founder of Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Karlan leads students through simulated Supreme Court cases on a regular basis. If Obama were to appoint her to the Supreme Court, her cases would no longer be simulations. Also notable: Karlan is one of the nation's leading experts on voting rights, and the textbook she co-wrote on the subject--currently in its third edition--was reviewed and adopted as class material by Obama when he was still a law school professor.
Cass Sunstein - Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Sunstein's impressive academic resumé and close ties to the Obama administration make him a strong possible candidate. He was regularly shortlisted after Justice Souter's retirement, but has not been mentioned much as a candidate since then.
Harold Koh - Dean, Yale Law School
Koh is one of the leading U.S. scholars on international human rights law, and also has diplomacy credentials--having served as the Clinton administration's assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor from 1998 to 2001. He would also be the first Asian American to serve on the Court.
But his scholarly focus on international human rights could upset conservatives and moderates who feel that some liberal justices have already relied inappropriately on international human rights standards in their interpretation of the constitution.
Jennifer Granholm - Governor of Michigan
Some have speculated that the only reason Governor Granholm was not selected for a high-ranking position on Obama's cabinet was because she would make such an obvious Supreme Court nominee down the road. While her lack of experience in the judiciary could be seen as a strike against her, remember that governors without judicial experience--most notably former California governor Earl Warren--have been appointed to the Court before.
Kimberle Crenshaw - Professor of Law, University of California at Los Angeles
One of the most respected legal scholars in the country, Crenshaw is primarily known for her work on critical race theory and matrices of oppression. Having a legal philosopher of her caliber on the Court would be a dream for radical civil libertarians, and several prominent feminist bloggers have suggested her as a possible nominee, but the odds are stacked against her. Still, she probably is--and definitely should be--on the president's shortlist.M. Margaret McKeown - Judge, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
McKeown has served relatively quietly on the 9th Circuit, with the exception of one prominent 2007 ruling dealing with the government-endorsed display of religious symbols on public property (in which she wrote a majority opinion upholding separation of church and state). In this respect, she would be arguably the perfect nominee--as conservatives in the Senate would have a very difficult time painting her as an ideologue, despite her tenure on what is generally considered the most liberal U.S. circuit court.Deval Patrick - Governor of Massachusetts
Patrick, who headed up the Clinton administration's civil rights division as assistant attorney general before being elected governor, is something of an unlikely Supreme Court candidate. He has no judicial experience, and his nomination would rankle conservatives. But Patrick is a compelling nominee, and would be more than prepared for the scrutiny that comes with a Supreme Court nomination.
