With the news that Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is going to retire during Obama’s presidency (and possibly quite soon) has come the inevitable speculation about who’s up next.The Wall Street Journal says it’s likely to be one of three candidates: Elena Kagan, Obama’s solicitor general and a former dean of Harvard Law School; Judge Diane Wood from from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago; and Judge Merrick Garland from the D.C. Court of Appeals.There’s not much we observers can do to affect this process, of course, other than contacting our congresspeople when confirmation time comes, but it’s still good to be informed. Anyone have opinions about these three? Wood seems like the most liberal choice and both she and Kagan have reputations as consensus-builders. Garland seems like the easiest candidate to get confirmed.Image of Elena Kagan from Wikimedia Commons
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