President Barack Obama has crucial and tricky task ahead of him in the coming weeks. He has to pick a replacement for retiring Supreme Court judge Justice John Paul Stevens. The popular opinion is that he will pick someone who is sympathetic towards abortion rights.
Among the candidates for the job are Sidney Thomas, Merrick Garland and Diane Wood (Federal appeals court judges), Elena Kagan (Solicitor General), Leah Ward Sears (former Georgia Chief Justice), Martha Minow (Dean of Harvard Law School), Janet Napolitano (Homeland Security Secretary) and Jennifer Granholm (Gov. Michigan). Obama denied that he had any “litmus tests” to pick the replacement for Stevens. However, in response to the abortion question he said “…I want somebody who will be interpreting our Constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights. And that includes women’s rights.”
Although that sounds like a veiled statement which means that he is going to pick a pro-abortion judge, it is too difficult to call at the moment. The statement was made at a consultative session which took place at the White House. Key senators and involved in the Senate confirmation process as well as Vice President attended the session.
According to the President, the announcement about the nomination will come towards the end of May. But we may not have to wait that long, as he is expected to make his announcement much earlier. The plan is to have the Senate confirm the nominee early. That way the new judge can get their staff in place and be ready to hit the ground running when the new courts session begins in October.