Legal News

Morning Scotus Roundup: A First Hispanic Justice? More . . .

By Ashby Jones

We’ve still no idea when President Obama plans to nominate Justice Souter’s replacement. But that hasn’t stopped the writers from writing, the followers from breathlessly following, the interest groups from peddling their influence. Herewith is the morning news on the Scotus front:

The First Hispanic Justice? The pressure to name a Hispanic justice is building, writes the Washington Post. Hispanic legal groups are calling for the court’s first Latino member, a notion backed up by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which recently told Obama that “appointing our nation’s first Hispanic justice would undoubtedly be welcomed by our community and bring greater diversity of thought, perspective and experience to the nation’s legal system.”

The most prominent Hispanic candidate is Second Circuit judge Sonia Sotomayor (pictured), about whom we’ve spilled a few pixels in recent days (here and here).

From Frank and Dick to Nino and Clarence? The NYT this morning features a piece on Seventh Circuit judge Diane Wood, who time and time again has shown the fortitude to go up against the Seventh Circuit’s more conservative heavyweights, Frank Easterbrook and Richard Posner. It could be just the thing Obama is looking for; someone who can pas-de-deux with the likes of Justices Scalia and Thomas.

Geoffrey Stone, who was provost of the University of Chicago and dean of its law school, said, "Diane is a serious and accomplished scholar who has demonstrated the ability to go toe to toe with Dick and Frank," both of whom, he added, "can be intimidating figures."

The Ivory Tower or the ‘Real World’? Chicago Tribune writers James Oliphant and David Savage throw out another possibility: that the White House could surprise everyone by looking past academics and sitting judges to a candidate from another group that comes from what might be called the “real world.”

Such an approach could favor a candidate such as Sotomayor, a former New York prosecutor who grew up in a Bronx housing project. Or such criteria could pave the way for a less traditional choice, such as Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 12, 2009 (boomark / email).