If this AP article is to be believed, President Obama’s shortlist contains one name people haven’t really considered yet: Carlos Moreno. Name: Carlos R. Moreno DOB: November 4, 1948 Age: 60 Undergraduate: B.A. Yale ’70 Graduate: J.D. Stanford ’75 Current Position: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California, ’01-Present Notable Past Positions: Federal District [...]

Kathleen Sullivan’s name is being mentioned more and more frequently as a potential nominee to replace Justice Souter. For the sake of full disclosure, I’ll admit that she would be my ideal choice, but I wouldn’t bet-the-house on her chances. Name: Kathleen Marie Sullivan DOB: August 20, 1955 Age: 53 Undergraduate: Cornell ’76 Graduate: Oxford [...]

Despite all the talk of Justice Souter’s importance to the Court, the proposition that Justice Souter has had a minimal impact on the Court’s most controversial issues is generally true. Since the beginning of OT06, Justice Souter has issued just 1 of 39 5-4 opinions and this lone 5-4 majority opinion was handed down less [...]

It would be naive to think that Justice Souter’s replacement won’t have a major impact on the future of the Supreme Court. At a minimum, if President Obama were to simply hit the refresh button on Justice Souter and replace him with a 55-year old version of himself, the liberal wing of the Court would [...]

There has been a lot of talk about naming Diane Wood of the Seventh Circuit to replace Justice Souter when he leaves the Court. Full Name: Diane Pamela Wood DOB: July 4, 1950 Age: 58 Undergraduate: University of Texas ‘71 Law School: University of Texas ‘75 Notable Work Experiences: Clerk- Irving Goldberg (CA5 ’76), Harry [...]

The AP wire is reporting on a possible nominees to replace Justice Souter. Most news sources are reporting that President Obama will nominate a woman. He is also under considerable pressure to nominate a minority candidate, and there are only a handful of nominees to meet both of those criteria. Here is the AP list [...]

The future is bleak for democrats and judicial liberals. The average age of the four conservatives is 60.75 years (Roberts(53), Scalia (72), Thomas(60), Alito(58)). The average age of the four liberals, however, is 75.7 years (Stevens(88), Souter(69), Ginsburg(75), Breyer(70)). Justice Stevens, an active octogenarian and avid tennis player who frequently reads briefs on the beach [...]

Barack Obama has chosen a running mate that shares his views on fiscal policy, healthcare, education, the war on terror, and…Clarence Thomas? It seems that the presumptive Democratic nominee, fresh off his remarks at Saddleback, has selected Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) as his VP. Biden is widely-respected as the Chair of the Senate Committee on [...]

Earlier tonight, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama joined Pastor Rick Warren at his California megachurch for an event pegged as “The Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.” The interviews, each an hour in length, were separated by thirty-six tense seconds in which the presumptive nominees shared the stage (and an awkward hug [video here!]). [...]

The Washington Post had a article recently about the way in which more and more American’s are viewing the court as too conservative. 33% of Americans feel that the Court is too conservative and only 47% believe that the court is balanced. 55% of Americans agree with the court’s ruling in Carhart but 70% disagree [...]