Toobin: Obama Likely to Pick a Woman for Souter Seat

[tekisui]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- A source close to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter told CNN he plans to retire after more than 18 years on the high court. He is expected to leave the court after the current session ends in June.

Souter's departure gives President Obama his first chance to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Heidi Collins spoke to CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, on Friday about Souter. Here's an edited version of the discussion:

(snip)

Collins: So here is the deal. We brought you here today because we want you to pick, of course, who his replacement is going to be. Who is it?

Toobin: That's what everybody wants to know, including, unfortunately, me, so i don't really know for sure. There's not a clear front-runner. I think it is likely that President Obama will pick a woman. There's only one woman on the Supreme Court. The legal profession is now almost half women, more than half the law students in America are women. It does seem a weird imbalance that there is only one justice.

more: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/01/toobin.souter/

[hedgehog]

1. Pffft! I could have told you that! Obama will pick a woman unless

he picks a man.

[Cha]

3. Obama will pick a woman unless

he wants to be reamed!

[Cha]

2. Women do need to be represented

on the Supreme Court and I don't mean someone like Sandra Day O'Connor.

And, who knows when Ruth Bader Ginsburg will retire?

[CTyankee]

4. Let him pick as many women as there are openings.

I'd like to see a gay woman, a black woman and an hispanic woman.

Then we'd have 4 women so blatantly NOT like the 5! Freepers would start mass suicides...