The Associated Press is listing a number of potential picks to replace David Souter
Here is the list of possible choices.
_ Judge Ruben Castillo of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
_ Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
_ Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.
_ U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, a former Harvard University law professor.
_ Pam Karlan, a professor at Stanford Law School.
_ Harold Koh, a Yale University law professor recently nominated to serve as legal adviser at the State Department.
_ Judge Margaret McKeown of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
_ Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.
_ Judge Johnnie Rawlinson of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
_ Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
_ Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School.
_ Cass Sunstein, a Harvard University law professor recently nominated to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
_ Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
_ Judge Diane Wood of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
Few of these are known to me. However, of all, the name that I must say intrigues me the most is Cass Sunstein
As Wikipedia notes, "Sunstein's 2004 book, The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution and Why We Need It More than Ever, advocates the Second Bill of Rights" which includes:
a right to an education, a right to a home, a right to health care, and a right to protection against monopolies
And also like his pragmatism. In an article in the New Republic, Sunstein argued that
... challenges of health care reform, Iraq, economic growth, climate change, and energy independence cannot possibly be met well, and perhaps cannot be met at all, without cross-cutting coalitions. Real transformations require a degree of consensus. Obama's point also has intrinsic and not merely instrumental importance, and for one simple reason: It says something deeply true, and long neglected, about how Americans actually understand themselves. If Obama's visionary minimalism turns out to have enduring power, it will be for that reason.
Anyway, the choice, as we know, will likely be opposed by GOP obstruction.