Three Prospects for the Supreme Court
These woman rank high on the lists of potential nominees to fill anticipated vacanies on the court
Three Prospects for the High Court
Elena Kagan, 48, dean, Harvard Law School. During her five-year tenure at Obama's law school alma mater, Kagan has won over conservatives with her personal skills and efforts to diversify the faculty politically. The constitutional law expert clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, was a professor at University of Chicago (where Obama also taught), and was a Clinton admini-stration lawyer. Republicans stalled her nomination by Clinton to the D.C. Circuit and later confirmed now Chief Justice John G. Roberts for the seat.
Sonia Sotomayor, 54, judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Appointed by President Clinton to the Circuit Court in 1997, she previously served six years on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York after appointment by President George H. W. Bush. Of Puerto Rican heritage, she would be the first Hispanic justice. An experienced jurist and considered a realist, she sided with labor in the 1995 Major League Baseball strike. A Yale Law School grad, she served in the New York County District Attorney's Office.
Kathleen Sullivan, 53, former Stanford Law School dean, professor, and private litigator. Considered a brilliant constitutional scholar, the Harvard Law School grad has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and was named by the National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America. She has been a strong advocate on privacy issues, including abortion rights as well as same-sex marriage. She has taught at Harvard and coauthored a leading textbook, Constitutional Law.
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Reader Comments
Supreme Court 5-4 Monarchy
When will Americans figure out that we are ruled by a nine seated monarchy in our country? With a ruling majority of five and are seated for life.
Article III of the Constitution clearly as it is written declares this and so decided in the 1803 Marbury vs Madison what the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction and who will have appellate jurisdiction and they are the final of judicial review of the Constitution. This decision sent Thomas Jefferson in a tail spin and he contemplated it until his death. Afterwords calling for a Constitutional convention. The Supreme Court can overrule any Presidential and Congressional decision. They have more of a deciding majority than Congress and the minority has no rights or say what so ever on the decisions of when this majority has ruled. They can revise, interrupt and overturn the Constitution as they see fit with no regards to the spirit of the law or as it is commonly written. There are some on this court who hold no regard for the Declaration of Independence as law of our land ratified by Congress and signed by President Adams. Nor do they have any regard for the 9th Amendment and our unenumerated rights. In this America our founding fathers ever so wanted to ensure that we have all rights and they are protected and since enumeration of some rights might be taken to imply the absence of other rights and that must never happen! It's way past a time in our America for a Constitutional convention as to put the power in America back were it belongs and that is with the PEOPLE.
should choose a liberal justice
I do hope that we consider more liberal justices to neuter the hitleresque tendencies of roberts, scalia, alito, and thomas.
we do not need another roland freiser in our mist representing our great country.
if you do not know who freiser is, look him up.
Supreme Court
There may be more. Clarence Thomas is nearing the demographic edge for life expectancy is 69 and he is 60. We know that David Souter has been quoted as saying he hates the job and would like to retire. The only firm seats appear to be Alito and Roberts. I would hope Scalia would retire but suspect he'll be another Douglas and they'll have to shoot him to leave. His judicial philosophy is based on spite and I suspect he'll stay on as long as he can.
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