Just hours after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away, speculation about who might replace Scalia on the court began, even as many mourned the death of the conservative icon.
A liberal nominee would have a rough go with a Republican-controlled Senate and the prospect of replacing one of the court’s most conservative justices. Many conservatives have already called for the next president to choose the justice instead of Obama. Nonetheless, it’s worth looking back at the short lists President Obama used in his first term. Those short lists eventually resulted in Elena Kagan’s confirmation in 2010 and Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation in 2009.
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Past short list: (current position)
Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan
Diane Woods (Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit)
Merrick Garland (chief judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit)
Janet Napolitano (president of the University of California)
Jennifer Granholm (distinguished adjunct professor, University of California, Berkeley School of Law & Goldman School of Public Policy)
Leah Ward Sears (former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia)
Carlos Moreno (U.S. ambassador to Belize)
Ruben Castillo (chief judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois)
The short list is over six years old, so Obama’s new short list will probably look different.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
