Who will Obama choose?

According to the CNN article"What you need to know about the top Supreme Court contenders" (published May 9th), there are four front funners for the soon to be vacant seat of Justice John Paul Stevens: Elena Kagan, Diana Wood, Merrick Garland, and Sidney Thomas. President Obama, using the power given to him in Article 2 Section 2 of the Constitution, will appoint one of the previously metioned nominees to the Supreme Court. If all goes smoothly, the Senate will confirm the nominee, and we will have a new justice on the Supreme Court by the new session this fall.

Here is a brief overview of each of the possible nominees:

Elena Kagan is the US Solicitor General. She is the youngest among the nominees but has a fair about of law experiance. Not only was she a Harvard Law School Dean, she also worked as a law clerk for Justice Thurgood Marshall. Like many Supreme Court nominees, she has an ivy education. Kagan is fairly neutral and doesn't have a paper trail on critical isses, such as abortion. However, she does lack judicial experience and tends to defend executive power.

Judge Diane Wood is on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. She does not have an Ivy League education and is from the Midwest. If appointed she would bring a lot of diversity to the court. Plus, Wood as delt with a court dominated by conservative judges. Wood's record on aborion, religion, and immigration would make the conformation process difficult. Conservatitves are already putting up a fight.

Judge Garland, with his Ivy League education and decision that both the left and the right agree with is a typical candidate. Case subject matter included environmental protection, ending disability discrimination, and stopping terror. With little controversy in his private or professional like, Judge Garland seems as though he would be pretty easy to confirm.

Judge Sidney Thomas is a faimly man with a legal background. He often took more gray area cases while on the court of appeals such as, right to privacy and what constitutes free speech cases. Thomas would add more to the court's ideological diversity that Garland would, but Thomas would aslo face a tougher confirmation.

In the end, Obama ended up choosing Elena Kagan!!!

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Posted by EGrenadier and MTaylor