As you are (or had better be) aware, the President will have a chance to appoint a new United States Supreme Court Justice early into his first term. So, who is it?
Lefty wackjobs like myself would love to see him act swiftly and send in Andrew Cuomo or Deval Patrick to counterweight the ultra conservative views of Justice Scalia. According to today’s NYT it might not go down this way at all. First of all, it has been widely discussed that President Obama will use this pick, likely his first of two to come in his presidency, to appoint a minority member to the bench. This seems like the most sensible approach – seeing that out of the last five appointments, three white men made the cut while only one minority and one woman were chosen.
I think that it is high time for another minority pick to the highest court in our country. Perhaps the first Asian American or Latino American will find there way to the capitol. It makes sense to me that the body charged with making decisions that have the potential to affect millions of Americans of minority backgrounds, just might want to get minorities involved in the process.
Anyway, don’t expect President Obama to make a pick solely for the purpose of making a pick. He has the fate of millions of current and future Americans in his hands – this may take a while.