All presidents throughout their tenures get to nominate individuals to either an appeals bench or at the district level who would be seen as possible stepping stone to the United States Supreme Court.
Well Obama has nominated a Complete Liberal to the appeals court. Professor Goodwin Liu is the associate dean of UC Berkeley and as I stated, he's the guy liberals have been dreaming for on the court.
Goodwin Liu and Supreme Court
Liu presents a classic dilemma for intellectually honest conservatives: he is undeniably brilliant, undeniably qualified to serve, has a great story behind him (son of immigrants who didn't learn English until kindergarten, was a Rhodes scholar, went to Stanford, Yale Law) respected by colleagues bearing various ideologies -- and he is unabashedly (so far are these things go) a judicial liberal.
The bill of goods against Liu is familiar: he is an outspoken advocate for the theory of a living Constitution and has an expansive interpretation of the 14th amendment. Republicans distributed parts of an essay Liu wrote (along with Pam Karlan, another potential Obama court/Supreme Court nominee from Stanford): "For too long, liberals, progressives ... have been defensive about how the Constitution should be interpreted. But an examination of the document itself and the way its principles have been applied over time reveals that the progressive view is in fact the one that has prevailed." Manna to the ears of liberals, of course, who also appreciate how Liu has taken public stands on issues ranging from health care to same-sex marriage.
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There are a few other reasons why Liu is not acceptable: he does not like Samuel Alito and made this clear during Alito's nomination to the Court. He is also extremely ... shall we say, charming. Articles laud his Midwestern folksy demeanor; he is a product of the Sacramento suburbs and speaks the language of ordinary American (read: ordinary American white guy) well. A conservative lawyer who has worked with Liu confessed to me that he is "scared" of Liu because is he "more brilliant than [Antonin] Scalia without being nasty."
For the folks waiting for Obama to nominate someone to the bench with completely liberal credentials, Professor Liu is definitely the way to go. He must be confirmed, if he's to have a shot at getting on the Supreme Court Bench. Unfortunately, Republicans appear to be scared of him. They've delayed his hearings and in fact, today, he was delayed again as part of the Republicans' stall tactics on healthcare. Think about it folks "more brilliant than Scalia without being Nasty". This is Obama's future choice. He's got to be confirmed first.
As for who might currently be in line for a Supreme Court Position, the NYT goes through the list in case Justice Stevens retires in the next month:
NYT Supreme Court Choices
Wary of appearing presumptuous, the White House has avoided overt moves to prepare, but it already has long dossiers on a host of candidates after last year’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor. If Justice Stevens retires, Democrats close to the White House said, the leading contenders will be three runners-up from last year: Elena Kagan, the solicitor general; Diane P. Wood, an appeals court judge in Chicago; and Merrick B. Garland, an appeals court judge in Washington.
The only reason why he may not go for a liberal this time around would be to ensure that energy, immigration and other measures get through impeded in the middle of an election year. Although, there are some possibilities should Obama choose to take them:
The candidates who would most excite the left include the constitutional scholars Harold Hongju Koh, Cass R. Sunstein and Pamela S. Karlan. Mr. Koh and Mr. Sunstein now work in the Obama administration while Ms. Karlan teaches at Stanford Law School. But none were finalists last year, and insiders doubt Mr. Obama would pick any of them now.
The exception as to who would excite the base, would be Cass Sustein. I'm rather surprised that Peter Baker named him in this article.
Regardless, Obama's going to have a choice to reshape the court, now and in the future.