Supreme Court Strategizing Should Include Birth Control

(NEWSER) - President Obama said today he would be announcing his nominee to the Supreme Court “soon” and hopes to have the new justice confirmed by Congress’ August recess, Bloomberg reports. In a C-SPAN interview, Obama laid out his criteria, which includes not only “ivory tower learning” but also empathy. “You have to be able to stand in somebody else’s shoes and see through their eyes and get a sense of how the law might work or not work in practical day-to-day living.” More»

Lack of a ring turns top female Supreme Court candidates into targets

(NEWSER) - David Souter is a lifelong bachelor, but the possibility of a bachelorette replacement has started an uproar. Why? Because those potential Supreme Court justices are women, and when a powerful woman is unmarried it "seems to make everyone think: lonely, misfit, or lesbian," write Dahlia Lithwick and Hanna Rosin for Slate. Two potential candidates are lesbians, but that hasn't exactly opened the door to a frank discussion of what it would mean to have an openly gay woman on the bench. More»

Senate Judiciary Committee member expects choice to be made this week

(NEWSER) - President Obama has told him he won't be picking a radical to fill Justice Souter's spot on the Supreme Court, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch tells Politico. Hatch—who believes the president will make his choice before the end of this week—said he raised his concerns in a phone call yesterday and the president assured him he had no plans to pick a left-wing activist. More»

President has more to gain from picking a centrist who can lead than from a liberal follower

(NEWSER) - Justice Souter's sayonara gives Democrats a huge (and rare) opportunity to shape the Supreme Court, but President Obama would be wise not to simply appease the party faithful by picking a left-winger, Jonathan Martin writes in Politico. A centrist with leadership skills would be a better choice, Martin argues—somebody much like William I. Brennan, who Souter replaced in 1990. More»

(AP) - President Obama said today he will replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter with someone who shares the president's respect for "constitutional values" and hopes to have "him or her" seated by the start of the next term in October. In a dramatic flourish, Obama interrupted White House spokesman Robert Gibbs' daily press briefing to announce that he had just talked to Souter. More»