Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 7 May 2009 — Page 12

Page 12 • The Muncie Times

May 7, 2009

continued from page 1 get a chance to pick a Supreme Court nominee this early in his first term. However, last week Justice David Hackett Souter, 69, surprised the country when he abruptly announced that he was stepping down from the nation's highest court. The decision by Souter, a Republican presidential nominee to the Supreme Court offers Obama, a Democrat and the country's first African American president, a chance to begin reshaping the nine-member court. Obama will be under intense pressure, from various interest groups, over whom to pick for that position. Women want him to choose a second female to join the court. Since women make up about 52 percent of the country's population, that's a powerful argument. She would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. For the first time in U.S. history, there would be two women on the Supreme Court. Liberals and civil rights groups want Obama to pick a progressive judge, who would retain the ideological balance on the court and would, as Souter has done, continue siding with the court's liberal wing. There are many names that continue to be bandied around. Conservatives, naturally, would want Obama to nominate

President Barack Obama

someone who espouses their rightwing views and agenda. They will make, some noise, but know that they do not have much credibility with the new president. Republicans probably have a similar agenda, but understand the political dynamics. Last week's defection by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican-turned-Democrat, gives Democrats and their allies an overwhelming 59 Senate seats. If A1 Franken prevails in Minnesota, Democrats would enjoy a filibusterproof 60 out of 100 seats in the U.S. Senate. In practical terms, that means could pass legislation and confirm nominees in the upper chamber without Republican support, if the Democrats and their allies stick together. Obama is also going to be under pressure from Hispanics. Who supported him in the November election, to put the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court. Hispanics have never

Potential Supreme Court Jusitce Judge Diane Wood had one of their own as a be disappointed and to

Supreme Court justice. African Americans are also going to push for one of their own to join the court. Many are frustrated and disenchanted with Justice Clarence Thomas, the token black, because he is a charter member of the conservative bloc on the court, always siding with Justices John Roberts, Scalia and Alito. It seems inevitable that regardless of whom Obama finally nominates, many other interest groups are likely to

Potential Supreme Court Jusitce Elena Kagan School graduate, a former New York assistant district attorney in New York who has also been in private practice. President George H.W. Bush appointed her to the federal district court in Southern District of New York in 1991. President Bill Clinton promoted her to the Second Circuit.

* Elena Kagan,solicitor, 49, general, U.S. Justice Department, is a Harvard Law School graduate and law clerk to former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. She's a former dean of Harvard Law School. President Clinton nominated her to the D.C. Circuit, but her nomination stalled in the U.S. Senate.

feel alienated. This particular pick is not likely to tilt the court's ideological balance.. But with many other justices getting older, Obama's lasting legacy could well be how he manages to reshape and reposition the U.S. Supreme Court. Among some of those who have been named, in published reports, as potential nominees are: Judge Sonia Sotomayor, 54, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. She's a Yale Law

* Diane Wood, 58, judge, U. S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. She's a graduate of University of Texas and University of Texas Law School. Clerked for Justice Harry Blackmun. Appointed to the 7th Circuit by President Clinton in 1995.