Souter retirement sparks speculation, Obama mum

WASHINGTON – The news that Justice David Souter is planning to retire set off spirited speculation about a successor Friday, but the man who will appoint the new justice was staying out of it. “No Supreme Court questions,” President Barack Obama told reporters.

At the end of a Cabinet meeting about swine flu, reporters tried to shout questions about Souter, bringing Obama’s four-word rejection.

Souter’s departure is unlikely to change the court’s conservative-liberal split. Obama’s first pick for the high court is likely to be a liberal-leaning nominee, much like Souter.

The White House has been told that Souter will retire in June, when the court finishes its work for the summer, a person familiar with his plans said Thursday night. The retirement is likely to take effect only once a successor is confirmed.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for Souter.

Souter had no comment Thursday night, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said.

The vacancy could lead to another woman on the bench to join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, currently the court’s only female justice.

At 69, Souter is much younger than either Ginsburg, 76, or Justice John Paul Stevens, 89, the other two liberal justices whose names have been mentioned as possible retirees. Yet those justices have given no indication they intend to retire soon and Ginsburg said she plans to serve into her 80s, despite her recent surgery for pancreatic cancer.

In Philadelphia, Sen. Arlen Specter said he would like to see more ethnic and gender diversity on the high court. “I think that, given the proportion of women in our society, that one out of nine is under-represented,” said Specter, a recent convert to the Democratic Party. “The court could use some diversity along a number of lines,” he added, mentioning African-Americans and Hispanics.

Souter, a regular jogger, is thought to be in excellent health.

Interest groups immediately began gearing up.

“Obama’s own record and rhetoric make clear that he will seek left-wing judicial activists who will indulge their passions, not justices who will make their rulings with dispassion,” said Ed Whelan, president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said, “We’re looking for President Obama to choose an eminently qualified candidate who is committed to the core constitutional values, who is committed to justice for all and not just a few,”

Some of the names that have been circulating include recently confirmed Solicitor General Elena Kagan; U.S. Appeals Court Judges Sonya Sotomayor, Kim McLane Wardlaw, Sandra Lea Lynch and Diane Pamela Wood; and Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Men who have been mentioned as potential nominees include Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Harvard Law professor Cass Sunstein and U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo of Chicago.

Patrick said Friday he’s “120 percent” focused on being governor, but did not rule out interest in a high court appointment.

The Obama White House began from almost its first days in office preparing for the possibility of a retirement by thinking about and vetting potential high court nominees. Those efforts only accelerated with Ginsburg’s cancer surgery.

The timing may have been unexpected, but Souter has long yearned for a life outside Washington.

He has never made any secret of his dislike for the capital, once telling acquaintances he had “the world’s best job in the world’s worst city.” When the court finishes its work for the summer, he quickly departs for his beloved New Hampshire.

The Rev. John McCausland, an Episcopal minister and friend of Souter’s since college, said he and Souter have talked about what the justice would do after leaving the court. “He expects to go on senior status at the First Circuit,” McCausland said, referring to the federal appeals court in Boston, “but not to work very full-time, and he’s looking forward to finally having a life and catching up.”

Souter has been on the court since 1990, when he was an obscure federal appeals court judge until President George H.W. Bush tapped him for the Supreme Court.

Bush White House aide John Sununu, the former conservative governor of New Hampshire, hailed his choice as a “home run.” And early in his time in Washington, Souter was called a moderate conservative.

But he soon joined in a ruling reaffirming woman’s right to an abortion, a decision from 1992 that remains still perhaps his most noted work on the court.

Souter became a reliable liberal vote on the court on the social issues that regularly divide the justices on ideological grounds. He was one of the four dissenters in the 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore that sealed the presidential election for George W. Bush.

Yet as Souter biographer Tinsley Yarbrough noted, “he doesn’t take extreme positions.” Indeed, in June, Souter sided with Exxon Mobil Corp. and broke with his liberal colleagues in slashing the punitive damages the company owed Alaskan victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Souter is the court’s 105th justice, only its sixth bachelor. He works seven days a week through most of the court’s October-to-July terms, a pace that he says leaves time for little else. He told an audience this year that he undergoes “an annual intellectual lobotomy” each fall.

Souter earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Harvard sandwiched around a stay at Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar.

He became New Hampshire’s attorney general in 1976 and a state court judge two years later. By 1990, he was on the federal appeals court in Boston for only a few months when Bush picked him to replace Justice William Brennan on the Supreme Court.

National Public Radio first reported Souter’s plans Thursday night.

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WHAT’S NEXT

WASHINGTON – Now that Justice David Souter has helped solve the mystery of whether anyone would retire from the Supreme Court this year, what’s next? How will the executive and legislative branches of government set about filling a vacancy on the nation’s highest court?

• President Barack Obama will have to nominate a successor after Souter makes his retirement announcement official. Souter is likely to stay on the court through the end of the term in June, and maybe longer if a replacement is not quickly confirmed. Obama will have chosen his successor long before June • if the president hasn’t already made up his mind • but an announcement from the White House is unlikely before the Supreme Court finishes this year’s session.

• The Constitution requires the president to submit his nomination to the Senate for its advice and consent; the House plays no role. The Senate’s majority Democrats and minority Republicans will investigate the nominee’s background thoroughly before hearings begin in the Senate Judiciary Committee. It normally takes between four and six weeks to begin hearings after the Senate receives a Supreme Court nomination.

• The Senate will try to hold hearings and a confirmation vote before the Supreme Court begins its new term in October.

• Hearings will be supervised by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Following Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democratic Party earlier this week, GOP committee members will have to elect a new top committee Republican. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has served as chairman before, and would need a waiver from members to serve again. Next in line would be Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Senate hearings on the nominations of John Roberts as chief justice and Samuel Alito as justice, the high court’s two newest justices, lasted about a week.

• At the end of hearings, the committee will vote on the nominee and send a recommendation to the full Senate. Whether the committee decision is positive or negative, the full Senate is likely to vote on the nomination.

• It takes 60 votes to block a filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. Democrats now hold 59 votes in the Senate with Specter’s defection and two Democratic-voting independents. There is one open seat in the Senate with Norm Coleman and Al Franken fighting in court over the right to be the Minnesota senator.

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POSSIBLE NOMINEES

WASHINGTON – Court watchers think President Barack Obama will choose a woman for his first nomination to the Supreme Court, where only one of nine seats is currently held by a female – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

With Justice David Souter expected to retire this year, here are the some of the people who are likely to get some consideration from the White House:

Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Born in 1954 in the Bronx, N.Y. Nominated as a federal judge by President George H.W. Bush on November 27, 1991, and confirmed by the Senate on August 11, 1992. Nominated by President Bill Clinton to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 25, 1997, and confirmed by the Senate on October 2, 1998. Graduated from Yale Law School in 1979, and worked in private practice as a lawyer in New York City from 1984-1992 before joining the New York County District Attorney’s Office, where she served as assistant district attorney from 1979-1984. She then returned to private practice in New York City from 1984-1992.

Kim McLane Wardlaw of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Born in 1954 in San Francisco. Nominated as a federal judge by President Bill Clinton on August 10, 1995, and confirmed by the Senate on December 22, 1995. Nominated to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Clinton on January 27, 1998, and confirmed by the Senate on July 31, 1998. Graduated from UCLA Law School in 1979 and worked in private practice as a lawyer in Los Angeles from 1980-1995. Worked for President Clinton’s Justice Department transition team from 1992-1993 and for Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan’s mayoral transition committee in 1993.

Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.

• Born in 1955 in Heidelberg, Germany. Appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court in February 1992 by Georgia Gov. Zell Miller. Became chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court in June 2005. Has announced plans to retire from the Georgia Supreme Court in June 2009. Graduated from Emory University School of Law in 1980 and from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995 with a master’s of law degree. Worked in private practice in Atlanta from 1980-1985. Became a judge in Atlanta’s city traffic court in 1985, and was a state Superior Court judge from 1988-1992.

Sandra Lea Lynch, chief judge of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Born in 1946 in Oak Park, Ill. Nominated to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton on January 11, 1995, and confirmed by the Senate on March 17, 1995. Became chief judge in 2008. Received law degree from Boston University School of Law in 1971. Became an assistant state attorney general in Massachusetts and taught at Boston University Law School from 1973-1974. Worked as lawyer for the Massachusetts Department of Education from 1974-1978. Went into private practice in Boston from 1978-1995, while also serving as special counsel for the state Judicial Conduct Commission from 1990-1992.

Diane Pamela Wood of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Born in 1950 in Plainfield, N.J. Nominated to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton on March 31, 1995, and confirmed by the Senate on June 30, 1995. Received a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1975. Clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun from 1976-1977. Worked as a lawyer adviser in the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser from 1977-1978. Worked in private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1978-1980 before teaching at Georgetown University from 1980-1981. Worked as a professor at the University of Chicago from 1981-1995, where she also served as associate dean from 1989-1992. Worked at the Justice Department as special assistant to the associate attorney general from 1985-1987, and as the Antitrust Division’s deputy assistant attorney general for international, appellate and policy from 1993-1995.

Elena Kagan, U.S. Solicitor General.

• Born in 1960 in New York City. Nominated for Solicitor General by President Barack Obama. Received a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1986. Worked as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall from 1987-1988. Worked in private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1989-1991 and as professor at University of Chicago law school from 1991-1995. Associate counsel to President Bill Clinton 1995-1996, deputy assistant to Clinton for domestic policy and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council from 1997-1999. Nominated to the U.S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1999 but never received a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Professor at Harvard Law School since 1999, and dean of the Harvard Law School since 2003.

Johnnie B. Rawlinson of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

• Born in 1952 in Concord, N.C. Nominated by President Bill Clinton for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Nominated for the U.S. District Court by President Clinton in 1998. Received a law degree from University of the Pacific in 1979. Worked in private practice in Las Vegas 1979-1980 and as a staff attorney for Nevada Legal Services in 1980. Worked for the Office of the District Attorney, Clark County, Nev. from 1980-1998 serving as deputy district attorney, chief deputy district attorney and assistant district attorney.

• Ruben Castillo of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Born in 1954 in Chicago. Nominated by President Bill Clinton for the U.S. District Court in 1994. Received law degree from Northwestern University in 1979. Worked as a lawyer in private practice in Chicago 1979-1984 and 1991-1994. Worked as assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago from 1984-1988. Worked as regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund 1988-1991. Serves as commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

• Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Born in Chicago in 1952. Nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1997 by President Bill Clinton. Received law degree from Harvard University in 1977. Clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Brennan 1978-1979. Worked as special assistant U.S. attorney general, 1979-1981. Worked in private practice in Washington, D.C., 1981-1989 and 1992-1993. Worked as assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia 1989-1992. Worked as deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s criminal division, 1993-1994. Worked as principal associate deputy U.S. attorney general, 1994-1997.

• M. Margaret McKeown of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

Born in 1951 in Casper, Wyo. Confirmed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton. Received law degree from Georgetown University in 1975. Worked in private practice in Seattle from 1975-1998. Worked as a White House fellow and special assistant to the secretary of the Interior Department from 1980-1981.

• Pamela S. Karlan, law professor at Stanford University

Received law degree from Yale University in 1984. Worked as clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun, 1985-1986. Worked as assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 1986-1988. Worked as law professor at University of Virginia from 1988-1998. Works as law professor at Stanford University and co-founded the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.

• Harold Hongju Koh, dean of the Yale University Law School

Born in Boston in 1954. Nominated to be legal adviser to the State Department. Received law degree from Harvard University. Served as law clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun 1981-1982. Private practice in Washington, D.C. 1982-83. Worked in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department 1983-1985. Worked as law professor at Yale University 1985-1998, 2001-2004. Worked as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human right and labor, 1998-2001. Became Yale law school dean in 2001-present.

• Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School.

Born in 1955 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Received law degree from Harvard University in 1981. Worked as law professor at Harvard University from 1984-1993. Worked as law professor at Stanford University from 1993-1999. Served as dean of Stanford law school from 1999-2004. Works as law professor at Stanford University.

• Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago law professor.

Born in 1954. Received law degree from Harvard University in 1978. Clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall 1979-1980. Worked in Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department 1980-1981. Worked as law professor at the University of Chicago from 1981-2008. Nominated by President Barack Obama recently to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

• Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Born in 1956 in Chicago. Received law degree from Harvard University in 1982. Worked as lawyer for NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 1983 to 1986. Worked in private practice, 1986 to 1994 and in 1997. Worked as assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, 1994. Worked as chairman of Texaco Inc.’s Equality and Fairness Task Force, 1997. Worked as vice president and general counsel for Texaco Inc., 1999. Worked as executive vice president and general counsel for The Coca-Cola Co., 2001 to 2004. Became Massachusetts governor, 2006.

• Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Born in 1959 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Received law degree from Harvard University in 1987. Worked as a full-time aide, Michigan campaign for presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, 1988. Worked as executive assistant for criminal justice issues in the Wayne County executive office, 1988-89. Worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit, 1990-1995. Worked as Wayne County, Mich., corporation counsel, 1995-1998. Worked as Michigan attorney general, 1999-2002. Became Michigan governor, January 2003.