by Dennis Copson

Created on: May 03, 2009   Last Updated: May 10, 2009

The Politics of Gender/Ethnicity in Appointing the Next Supreme Court Justice

Justice David Souter has confirmed rumors of his retirement from the United States Supreme Court with a call to President Obama at the White House. Now comes speculation on who will replace him.

This will be the first Supreme Court appointment for a Democratic President in more than fifteen years. The pick will most likely not change the ideological balance of the Supreme Court in that Souter was a liberal minded justice contrary to what was thought his leaning at the time he was appointed by then President George H. W. Bush.

As might be expected, another liberal leaning justice will most likely be the pick. There is strong support for a female to be the replacement as there is only one female on the court as of now, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, seventy six years of age and not in the best of health having battled cancer several times during her tenure.

This can be discerned by early discussions from liberal and feminist organizations weighing in on this as soon as it was rumored that Souter would be retiring leading one to assume they had been ready for any announcement of any retirement of justices several of whom will undoubtedly consider it soon.

"We're looking for President Obama to choose an eminently qualified candidate who is committed to the core constitutional values, who is committed to justice for all and not just a few." So says Nan Aron, leader of the ultra-liberal/activist Alliance for Justice. Read: "We are looking for another liberal on the court to maintain the status quo." They will undoubtedly push for a woman. It will be interesting to see their positions and recommendations.

Now it gets sticky even if we assume President Obama will pick a liberal justice. Pressure will be on him to choose a woman big time. Here we get into the arena of gender and/or ethnic politics. Critics of the Supreme Court have long accused it of being a bastion of conservative white males not reflective of the population as a whole. Cries have long echoed from various women's groups to even the playing field by appointing more women to our nation's highest judicial group.

Several women possibilities have been mentioned as candidates including Judge Diane Wood of Chicago, Judge Sonia Soto, mayor of the appeals court in New York, and Judge Kim Wardlaw of the U.S. 9th Circuit among others. It will be interesting to see the complete list of women who surface as potential

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