Supreme Court Candidates

True, but it will be impossible to get approval of anyone he doesn't select.

Good evening.
Two things came up today that may or not be pertinent.
Goodwin Hon Liu had his day in front of the Judiciary committee. The 40-year old Taiwanese-American has been nominated for a federal appeals court judgeship in California. He is a "liberal law professor" at U Cal-Berkeley. He has had a bit of support amongst a conservative or two, but clearly he had a long, long day today.
If yall follow boxing you know that prior to the featured fight (i.e. a supreme court nomination), there are undercard bouts. That is where Mr Liu finds himself. I think that the Repubs may filibuster his nomination, partially because he is being tagged as too young and inexperienced and partially because he is so young he, if approved, may show up as a Supreme Court nominee in a decade or so.
The second story that caught my eye involved Elena Kagan. She is one of the 3 people most often mentioned as being on President Obama's short list for the Supreme Court nomination.
A blogger on CBS (I must admit I don't know what the relationship is between CBS and a blogger is) noted that Kagan is a middle aged, unmarried female. He sort of left it at that, but the follow up comments left no doubt about where he might have been heading. "Look at her," more than one of the comments posted noted, "Clearly, she is a lesbian."
CBS stood by the blogger for a few hours, waffled for a couple, and then deleted it. That is how I understand the reporting of the story.

I don't know realjohnboy -- a sexy lesbian on the court might be just what the country needs to get Americans more interested in the Supreme Court. But unfortunately, the rumor about Kagan seems to be just a smear campaign.

One should consider that at least a few of the males under consideration for the judiciary are male lesbians.

I saw this recently in the Chicago Tribune:



The story goes on to note:



That was about the time that I had a case in front of Judge Williams, and I concur with that assessment. I found her to be obdurately unacquainted with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and something of a bully on the bench (which might have been her way of compensating for her lack of familiarity with civil law). I just hope that she has learned a few things, and maybe even chilled out a little, in the intervening decades.

Interesting, Joe.
Rumor has it that there are about 10 people under consideration.

Your description of judge Williams puts me off on her.

New name to me: Judge Sidney Thomas. He is from Montana but sits, I believe, on a court in CA.

Never heard of him either.

This is getting hard to follow. So many judges! I bet Obama is just messing with us.

Judge Sidney R Thomas, 56, is from Montana. He got his undergrad and law degrees from state universities there. He was in private practice in Billings until he was nominated by Bill Clinton in 1995 to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals based in CA. His confirmation was delayed for awhile, not because of any issue involving Thomas. A Senator wanted to see the huge area served by the 9th Circuit split up.
He apparently has not said anything in his tenure as a judge to get people riled up about his values.
His time spent as a trial lawyer would distinguish him from most if not all of the current Supreme Court justices.
Some people, including me, believe that Judge Thomas is being considered because of a desire to bring some geographical/educational diversity to the high court. 8 of the 9 graduated from Ivy League law schools. 7 have spent their careers east of the Mississippi River, mostly along the east coast. 2 others claim CA as their homes now, but both went to Harvard.
I am not convinced that these are important factors in choosing a justice but it is probably in the political calculation.

Two justices Thomas? Now that would be funny. I approve, obviously.

Nina Totenburg: Justice Thomas concurred with the majority while Justice Thomas dissented.

If it's Mitt Romney, he will almost CERTAINLY appoint Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C Circuit Court of Appeals. For second and third vacancies, he will likely look at Jeffrey Sutton of the sixth circuit, Diane Sykes of the Seventh, former solicitor general Paul Clement, or Neil Gorsuch of the 10th circuit.

If Romney REALLY REALLY wants to send SCOTUS hurdling to the right, he might consider originalist thinker Steven G. Calebresi of Northwestern Law school or John Harrison of UVA. Either of these would be a perfect replacement for Scalia, but Sutton, Sykes, or Gorsuch are more likely for a Mitt Romney presidency. They are more in the mold of Samuel Alito than Clarence Thomas.

This Huffington post article might interest you:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2011/12/21/supreme-court-short-list-conservative-justice_n_1163178.html