ATL Poll: Who Should Replace SCOTUS Justice David Souter?

ATL readers, there are many names being bandied about as potential nominees for the Supreme Court. We’ve narrowed the list to nine people who have been mentioned by at least two of the following outlets: BLT, AP, and the SCOTUSblog.

That the next Supreme Court justice will lack a Y chromosome is a virtual certainty, but we’ve thrown a few token males into the poll anyway. Who strikes your fancy?

More on these nine, after the jump.


The Washington Post reports that Vice President Biden is in charge of drawing up the list of potential nominees. According to the Post, the following nominees have been discussed at 1600 Pennsylvania for some time now:

Most court observers also believe Obama would be likely to choose a woman as his first appointment, since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the lone female among the nine justices.

Most often mentioned as possibilities are two appeals judges, Sonia Sotomayor of New York and Diane P. Wood of Chicago, along with Obama’s new solicitor general, Elena Kagan…

White House advisers have been drafting lists of potential replacements virtually since Obama took office, and the list is said to also include Stanford University law professor Kathleen M. Sullivan, Kim McLane Wardlaw of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm and Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears.

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You can get biographical details on some of the potential nominees from The Associated Press and the BLT.

SCOTUSblog goes a bit more in depth, focusing on the female nominees:

[T]he three obvious candidates are Elena Kagan (SG), Sonia Sotomayor (CA2), and Diane Wood (CA7). The sleeper candidate is Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. Governor Granholm subsequently said she was not interested, but you never know. Through all his Chicago ties, including to the University of Chicago Law School, the President will be very familiar with Judge Wood’s reputation for brilliance. The President also knows Elena Kagan (who has her own Chicago ties) and the Administration will be very conscious of the fact that General Kagan is ten years younger and has the reputation from Harvard of working very well and persuasively among an ideologically diverse group.

So there you go. Now we play the sit-and-wait game. In the meantime, Kash and Elie are contemplating starting a “David Lat to SCOTUS” campaign.

Earlier: Breaking: Justice Souter Retiring

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Supreme Court Retirement Watch: Justice Souter?

A look at potential Obama nominees to high court [AP]

Justice Souter’s Retirement and Where We Go from Here [SCOTUSblog]

An Early Line on Possible Souter Replacements [BLT]

Souter Reportedly Planning to Retire From High Court [Washington Post]