Marc Ambinder's SCOTUS Wrap, 5/6

Hard to imagine that President Obama will name his SCOTUS choice anytime soon (i.e., this week) unless he pre-decided and pre-vetted. Sources close to Judges Sonia Sotomayor and Professor Pamela Karlin, as well as solicitor general Elena Kagan, say that, as of Tuesday, none of them had received proffers from the White House. There are other candidates, surely... but if none of these three have begun to be vetted, this pick is still in its infancy.

New White House communications director Anita Dunn will together a task force that'll war-room the nominee from the White House. Expect a similar operation at the Democratic National Committee. 

A handful of senior Obama aides, including Valerie Jarrett and Michael Strautmanis, are working with Cassandra Butts from the White House counsel's office and with counsel Greg Craig; they're regularly consulting with Vice President's Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, who knows more about these judges and this process than anyone else in government. In fact, Klain is good friends with most of the most-mentioned names. 

Is this what it seems? After some White House love, Sen. Jeff Sessions convinced a lot of journalists to write headlines suggesting that he's disinclined to filibuster Obama's nominee, especially since Obama promised that this person wouldn't be, in Session's words channeling Obama, a "bomb-thrower."  Of course, as Sessions knows, he and Obama probably disagree on the meaning of "bomb-thrower." 

Oppo Du Jour: Michael Goldfarb obtained Elena Kagan's senior thesis, where she seems to profess an admiration for unity among radical socialists.