:shrug:
http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2009/05/carlos_moreno_supreme_court_ca.htmlCarlos Moreno: Supreme Court candidate
Posted May 13, 2009 3:40 PM
The Swamp
by Mark Silva and updated
Carlos Moreno, a California State Supreme Court Justice, has emerged as one of several leading candidates to replace retiring Justice David Souter, according to The Atlantic and the Associated Press, with TheAtlantic.com citing "an administration official and a Democratic lawyer with ties with the White House,'' the AP "a source.''
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has recommended Moreno to the White House, Tribune's Washington bureau confirms.
Senators who left a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House today said he plans to nominate a justice "soon,'' though a timeframe was not spelled out. Obama met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and ranking Judiciary member Jeff Sessions.
Moreno is among the potential candidates whom Obama asked about as his advisers started compiling dossiers for potential nominees after his election, Marc Ambinder is reporting. Another was Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
Either Moreno or Sotomayor could offer Obama, who was elected with a solid majority of the Hispanic vote, the first Hispanic candidate for the high court.
The administration official cited by the Atlantic wouldn't put Moreno on an official short list, but the AP reports that Moreno and at least five others are under consideration. and would not provide other details.
"Moreno, 60, is well pedigreed, with degrees from Yale and Stanford,'' Ambinder notes. "He began his career as a deputy city attorney in Los Angeles... He was nominated as a federal judge by President Bill Clinton, served as president of the Mexican-American Bar association, and was nominated to the California Supreme Court by Gray Davis in 2001.
"The empathy factor? He's a foster parent.''
There's a potential political drawback, too: Moreno voted in favor of same-sex marriage when it came before the California court in 2008.