WASHINGTON – President Obama’s search to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter should go beyond the current roster of federal judges, senators from both political parties said Sunday.
“I would like to see more people from outside the judicial monastery, somebody who has had some real-life experience, not just as a judge,” said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings when Obama makes his nomination.
Noting that all nine justices came directly from the federal appeals court, senators on the committee said someone with a wider breadth of experience would be a plus.
“We should have more women. We should have more minorities,” Leahy said.
When he was discussing the qualities he would seek in Souter’s successor, Obama said last week he wanted someone with empathy for average Americans.
Conservatives fear that means Obama would consider “judicial activists.”
Leahy said he expects the next justice to be confirmed by the court’s new term in October.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a committee member who last week switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party, suggested someone in the mold of a statesman or stateswoman, and said he could imagine a nominee who was not a lawyer, if that a person had the right credentials. “I would like to see somebody with broader experience,” he said.
Said Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch: “We all know he’s going to pick a more liberal justice. Their side will make sure that it’s a pro-abortion justice. I don’t think anybody has any illusions about that,” he said. “The question is, are they qualified?”