Obama seeks court nominee who backs women's rights

[cynatnite]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, treading carefully on the explosive issue of abortion and the Supreme Court, said Wednesday he will choose a nominee who pays heed to women's rights and privacy when interpreting the Constitution.

"That's very important to me," Obama said. Yet he insisted he will not make any potential nominee pass a "litmus test" on abortion rights.

Obama consulted Senate leaders from both parties at the White House as he moved toward choosing a replacement for Justice John Paul Stevens, who turned 90 on Tuesday and is retiring.

The White House says Obama is considering about 10 people and has begun conversations with candidates. A nominee is expected within the next few weeks.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_supreme_court

[polichick]

1. Hope he flips 'em out and chooses a black lesbian. nt

[No Elephants]

2. "Liberal" is my litmus test.

[onehandle]

3. Healthy, relatively young woman please. nt

[thereismore]

4. code for pro-abort, no doubt.

:sarcasm:

[Jefferson23]

5. The long, clear, inspiring record of Diane Wood

If one were to analogize the search for Justice Stevens' replacement to the recently concluded health care debate, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood would be the public option. Just as the truly left-wing health care approach (a single-payer system) was eliminated from consideration before the process even began, so, too, have the truly left-wing candidates to replace Justice Stevens (Pam Karlan, Harold Koh) been ruled out as "not viable." As a result, the moderate-progressive compromises (i.e., the public option for health care and Diane Wood for Stevens' replacement) are falsely depicted as some sort of liberal extremism, merely because they're the least conservative options allowed to be considered. Contrary to how she's now being cast, Judge Wood is a very cautious and law-based jurist who resides far from the furthest left end of the mainstream judicial spectrum. In fact, one of her most distinctive attributes is the uniform respect and collegial relationships she has with her conservative colleagues on one of the nation's more right-wing courts.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/19/wood/index.html

[harry_pothead]

8. I agree with picking Diane Wood

She's my favorite IMO.

[Jefferson23]

9. Obama may go with Kagan, but I hope not. There is a lot at

stake, not only abortion.

[WheelWalker]

6. The more I look,

the more I'm liking Martha Minnow. You read it here.

[harry_pothead]

7. K&R

Everyone wins when women's rights are respected, and everyone wins when men's rights are respected.

Let's just hope the president lives up to his lofty promise.