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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Courts - "If the President’s priority were to appoint a brilliant, moderately liberal jurist in whose views he has confidence (because she has a track record), he would appoint 7th Circuit Judge Wood."

And many continue to hope he will.

The quote used in the heading is from an entry by Supreme Court practitioner Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSBlog fame, dated Feb. 23, 2010, and titled "On October 4, 2010, Elena Kagan Will Ask Her First Question As A Supreme Court Justice: And Justice Ginsburg will look across the bench at her new colleague and smile." Far into the lengthy entry, Goldstein begins his discussion of Judge Wood:

As I suggested above, on some level, this is all about the decision whether to nominate Seventh Circuit Judge Diane Wood. If the President’s priority were to appoint a brilliant, moderately liberal jurist in whose views he has confidence (because she has a track record), he would appoint Judge Wood. No judge on the left in the country is so uniformly respected for her intellect and thoughtfulness. She is amazingly articulate, and at a hearing would be no less impressive than was Chief Justice Roberts. She will be the near-uniform choice of the groups on the left – at least those who have given up on the dream of Pam Karlan.

Judge Wood is not remotely a fire-brand liberal. Few lawyers known for their service in the antitrust division are. But because she has at least a record of decisions on hot-button issues like abortion, there would be a genuine fight over her confirmation. Committed conservatives will oppose any realistic candidate (just as committed liberals were going to oppose anyone whom President Bush nominated), but a nominee with a paper trail will put in play the moderate Senators whom the Administration absolutely needs for the rest of its domestic agenda.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 25, 2010 09:09 AM
Posted to Courts in general