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dumblonde | May 01, 2009 03:12 AM | in Politics

Justice Souter has decided to retire from the Supreme Court. Who are possible contenders to take his place?

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/30/us/AP-US-Scotus-Souter-Retiring.html?hp

Please let me know your picks and why! Bonus tips for really excellent answers.

My money's on Judge Sonia Sotomayor. And may I add that the idea of a Latina woman in the Court gives me the warm fuzzies.

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BEST ANSWER decided by votes | yagelski | May 01, 2009 04:21 AM

"Given his first appointment to the high court, most observers expect Obama will appoint a woman, since the court currently has only one female justice and Obama was elected with strong support from women. But an Obama pick would be unlikely to change the ideological makeup of the court."

"Possible nominees who have been mentioned as being on a theoretical short list include Elena Kagan, the current solicitor general who represents the government before the Supreme Court; Sonia Sotomayor, a Hispanic judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and Diane Wood, a federal judge in Chicago who taught at the University of Chicago at the same time future President Barack Obama was teaching constitutional law there."

"...the prevailing belief right now is that Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor is Obama's most likely pick. She's considered a very safe choice (President George H.W. Bush appointed her to the bench in 1991, Clinton elevated her to appellate judge in 1997). She is the first Puerto Rican woman ever to serve as a U.S. appellate judge and would be the first Latina on the Supreme Court."

http://www.pace.edu/emplibrary/02180036.jpg

"Point-setters are already betting on Elana Kagan, who was the dean of Harvard Law School and was chosen by Obama to be solicitor general, to be among the front-runners."

http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/123087/2208015/2208016/090108_Juris_KaganTN.jpg

"One of the names on the short list political observers have pieced together is pro-abortion Judge Diane Wood. Wood is a member of the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and she has a long history of taking the pro-abortion side when it comes to pro-life issues."