Obama’s Justice

Did you see that Justice Souter this week described his job on the Supreme Court as “a sort of annual intellectual lobotomy“?

Say what? Law.com, where the link above takes you, suggests this confirms what many have suspeected for sometime, namely that Souter is seriously weary of being a Justice and seriously interested in retiring. (Compare to reports suggesting 89-year-old John Paul Stevens, some 19 years older than Souter, is still relishing his seat on the Court.)

Thankfully we have leadership in Washington that has really learned to work together to create a climate that would sustain a constructive, non-rancorous and efficient confirmation process.

Ok. Maybe not.

So, inquiring minds want to know. At some point President Obama will be appointing a new Justice. What sort of judge would he appoint? A Scalia of the left, a liberal lion whose passion for living Constitution could compete with Scalia’s passionate defense of texualism? A young lawyer? A current judge? A moderate in temperament if reliably “liberal” vote?

I suspect that he’ll go with the George W. Bush route and pick someone who has not thrown many bombs in their career but would generally rule in line with a certain ideological. That’s the “safe” way to go. It may result in the best person being picked. But it results in competent jurists who check off several boxes on the political checklist.

(Hopefully, the nominee’s taxes are in order. Sheesh.)