Barack Obama Finalizing List of Supreme Court Nominees as Liberals Pressure

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 29, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Barack Obama Finalizing List of Supreme Court Nominees as Liberals Pressure

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
April 29
, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — President Barack Obama is reportedly finalizing his list of potential nominees to scrutinize and investigate further. As he narrows down the list of potential replacements for retiring pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens, liberal groups are pressuring him to make a polemic pick.

CNN indicates the White House has been holding quiet meetings with the representatives of pro-abortion and left-wing groups to get their input.

The consensus is that Democrats control the Senate by a 59-41 vote margin and, following this November’s elections, probably won’t have that wide of a gap for years to come. As a result, they are urging Obama to shoot for the moon with a nominee who is stridently pro-abortion.

"There is the concern this White House may not want a political fight over the court in an election year," one liberal activist who met with Obama administration officials told CNN. "And we expressed our belief that this is a lifetime appointment, the issues she – or he – will decide are monumental, and now is not the time to think small, or think safe."

And Vincent Warren, executive director of the liberal Center for Constitutional Rights, warned "we’ll likely see justices being appointed as a political compromise" and told CNN "that’s not the long view the Obama administration should be standing for, and that’s frankly a capitulation."

Conservatives on the other hand think Obama will pull the trigger on a left-wing nominee with a rare chance at getting a judicial activist confirmed.

Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, told CNN, The president and the Democratic Congress have spent the last year or so pushing through a lot of legislation that people are getting very upset about."

"Now we’re concerned that he might be appointing a Supreme Court nominee who would take the same view and kind of rubber stamp the policies that he’s made," Severino added.

During a recent meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders, Obama said he is "somebody who believes that women should have the ability to make often very difficult decisions about their bodies and the issues of reproduction."

He claimed he had no litmus test but, in the next breath, said he would appoint someone who "who is going to be interpreting our Constitution in a way that takes into account" legal abortions.

Obama reportedly has a list of about 10 people he is considering. Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Judges Diane Wood of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Merrick Garland of the United States Court of Appeals for the District Circuit are considered leading candidates.

Judges Sidney Thomas of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Ann Williams of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; pro-abortion Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and former Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears of the Georgia Supreme Court are other potential nominees.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who backs abortion and Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School, and Justice Carlos Moreno of the California Supreme Court are other potential replacements for Stevens.

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