Picking A Supreme Court Judge, Ctd

A reader writes:

"In turn, all of this suggests that Obama--to the extent he's interested in making a good government choice--ought to be asking himself, "what area of expertise does the current court lack that I think it needs"?"

Trial experience! The biggest problems in recent years stem not from all the food-fight stuff about abortion and gays and all the things that legal bloggers find fun to write about because one can write pages and pages while hopped-up on coffee, but simply not recognizing how difficult they've made matters for the district courts - criminal sentencing, guidelines in deciding cases, evidentiary rules, etc. Aside from experience in handling trials - legislative experience a la O'Connor.