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Monday, February 09, 2009

Courts - Could Chicago's 7th Circuit Judge Wood be in line for Supreme Court?

Abdon M. Pallasch of the Chicago Sun-Times had this article in the Sunday paper. Some quotes from the lengthy story:

She seems to be at the top of many handicappers' lists -- just as she was 14 years ago when President Bill Clinton had a chance to fill an opening on the federal appellate court in Chicago.

Judge Diana Pamela Wood, 58, has spent the last 14 years going toe-to-toe with the legendary conservative lions of Chicago's 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Richard Posner and Frank Easterbrook, and her fans say she could ably fill the shoes of Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the moderate-liberal wing of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wood often finds herself the lonely dissenter on three-judge panels, arguing that atheists should be able to challenge the mostly-Christian prayers Indiana legislators use to open their sessions, that a gay Wisconsin teacher should be able to sue for alleged discrimination, that a Jewish condo dweller should be able to sue for discrimination when the building makes her take down her mezuzah, or that Indiana voters should not have to show ID to vote.

Conservatives dominate here in the 7th Circuit, which includes Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Wood, sometimes in the majority, other times in dissent, has taken the pro-choice side in three high-profile cases that could become lightning rods for conservatives if she is President Obama's first nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. * * *

Obama and Wood were senior lecturers at the University of Chicago law school together, like Posner and Easterbrook. They travel in the same circles.

Former Clinton White House Counsel Abner Mikva, who recruited her for her current seat, is a trusted adviser to Obama, recommending the names of potential judges. Other Obama friends from the U of C's law school, such as Cass Sunstein, are considered favorites for the state high court, but if the so-called "female seat" is the first to open up, Wood's chances increase.

"She's a logical choice," said attorney Tom Geoghegan, who has appeared before Wood. "If I were Barack Obama and I were looking for someone who's going to fit in his mold of a not terribly ideological, very intelligent judge who's not going to get him in trouble politically because she's very smart and careful, she'd be somebody I think he would go with."

This is much more in the story.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 9, 2009 08:27 AM
Posted to Courts in general