Souter Replacement Watch: Master List

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News that Supreme Court Justice David Souter will retire in June has set off a maelstrom of speculation as to who will eventually take his place. Here are the names most frequently being mentioned, ranked by frequency. For a breakdown of replacement dynamics and a reported list, see Marc's post.

The list takes five sources into account: articles/posts today from CNN, the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal Law Blog, The Los Angeles Times, SCOTUSblog, The BLT (the Blog of the Legal Times), and The Huffington Post's Sam Stein.

The two most mentioned candidates are Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood, each mentioned by all of the sources above. Next comes Elena Kagan, mentioned by six of seven. Ties are listed in no particular order.


Here they are:

-Sonia Sotomayor, 2nd Circuit appellate judge originally appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and elevated to the Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton. She would be the first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court justice. (CNN, AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost)

-Diane Wood, 7th Circuit appellate judge nominated by Bill Clinton in 1995 (CNN, AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost)

-Elena Kagan, incoming U.S. solicitor general, served in the Clinton White House, worked as a clerk but has no judicial experience (AP, WSJ, LA Times, SCOTUSblog, BLT, HuffPost)

-Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former federal prosecutor (CNN, AP, WSJ, SCOTUSblog)

-Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School and former Harvard law professor (AP, WSJ, BLT, HuffPost)

-Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, first African American woman to serve as a superior court judge in Georgia  (AP, WSJ, HuffPost)

-Kim McLane Wardlaw, 9th Circuit appellate judge nominated by Bill Clinton (AP, BLT, LA Times)

-Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former assistant attorney general for civil rights under Bill Clinton (CNN, AP, BLT)

-Harold Hongju Koh, dean of Yale Law School, has been nominated by Obama to be legal adviser to the State Dept. (AP, BLT, HuffPost)

-Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago law professor (AP)

-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (BLT)

-Ann Claire Williams, 7th Circuit appellate judge originally nominated by Ronald Reagan, elevated to the Court of Appeals by Bill Clinton (CNN)

-Sandra Lea Lynch, chief judge of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)

-Johnnie B. Rawlinson, 9th Circuite appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)

-Ruben Castillo, district court judge for Northern Illinois, nominated by Bill Clinton, also would be first Hispanic Supreme Court justice (AP)

-Merrick B. Garland, DC Circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)

-M. Margaret McKeown, 9th Circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (AP)

-Pamela Karlan, Stanford law professor (AP)

-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (BLT)

-Interior Secretary Ken Salazar (BLT)

-Seth Waxman, former U.S. solicitor general, argued Boumediene v. Bush before the U.S. Supreme Court (HuffPost)

-Teresa Wynn Roseborough, deputy assistant attorney general under Bill Clinton (HuffPost)

-William Fletcher, 9th circuit appellate judge, nominated by Bill Clinton (HuffPost)

Another mention: Jose Cabranes, appointed by Bill Clinton to the 2nd Circuit (floated by Edward Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in a Washington Post opinion forum)

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Chris Good is a political reporter for ABC News. He was previously an associate editor at The Atlantic and a reporter for The Hill.

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