Obama's Souter Replacement for the Supreme Court, Iran's Elections, and More

Our daily look at stories and topics that are lighting up the Internets:

The Next SCOTUS

Predicting Obama's future appointments to the Supreme Court is all the rage. Liberal Big Tent Democrat seems to think Obama's going to cave and appoint someone too moderate: "Well President Obama, we have recaptured the Presidency and the Senate. Can we have our 'liberal' Justices now?" Conservative Ed Morrissey can't believe that gaffmaster Biden is playing a leading role in the search to find a replacement for Justice Souter: "It's time to get back to the time-honored tradition of sending VPs off to foreign funerals as their main duty. In Biden's case, it should be his only duty." E.J. Dionne had lots of bloggers talking with this op-ed. Marc Ambinder has his predictions for who'll make it to the Court: "That leaves Sotomayor, whose stock is now rising among the cognoscenti, and Woods, who Obama knows well from the faculty of U Chicago and whose paper trail is satisfyingly free of blemishes. She's considered to be a brilliant jurist and a compassionate person." Conservative Damon W. Root is worried that Obama's an ideologue. And it turns out that gay marriage advocates are pushing Obama to nominate a gay man or woman to the Supreme Court.

Iran and the Middle East

What with Iranian elections coming up, the revelations Jordan's king is offering on the future of Middle East peace, and the pope's trip to Israel, the Middle East is a hot topic in today's blogosphere. Conservatives Ali Alfoneh and Michael Rubin outline the major candidates in next month's elections in Iran. Mort Zuckerman sees an opportunity to unite Arabs and Israelis against Iran. Liberal Alan Dershowitz thinks the Iranian threat has nothing to do with Israeli-Palestinian peace. Meanwhile, the pope makes headlines by walking out on a chief Islamic judge of the Palestinian Authority, and liberal Sam Sedaei draws lessons from the release of Roxana Saberi from Iranian prison. These conservative bloggers worry about giving credit to the Iranians for Saberi's release.

The Torture Train

...Keeps rolling. More precisely, the debate about prosecuting and/or investigating the interrogation tactics of the Bush administration. Jordan's King Abdullah isn't only talking about the future of peace in the Middle East. Liberal Jeffrey Goldberg covers the king's thoughts on U.S. torture here. According to liberal Amanda Terkel, Cheney might soon be testifying about the torture program himself. Andrew Sullivan wants to know who monitored the torture. And Thomas A. Bass gives a tongue-in-cheek history of torture (spoiler: he thinks Cheney and other torture-supporting Republicans are toolboxes).

...Meanwhile...

Roquefort returns... Watch this and you'll wish you were adopted... And Americans are ready to be lied to about the economy again.