WASHINGTON — Barack Obama's election probably does not herald a new liberal era at the Supreme Court, since none of the conservative justices -- who are in the majority -- is expected to retire in the next four years.
But if liberals cannot take control, Obama's win has them pushing for a strong voice for social justice on the high court.
"I think Obama would want to make a statement with his Supreme Court justices. We hope for a justice who can replace the lost voice of an Earl Warren or Thurgood Marshall or William Brennan," said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a coalition of public interest and civil rights groups. "It's critically important to have an Obama justice who can be a counterpoint to [Chief Justice John G.] Roberts and [Justice Samuel A.] Alito."
And many expect the voice to be that of a woman.
"I think it's a virtual certainty Obama would appoint a woman. It's absurd that the Supreme Court has only one woman, and everyone recognizes it," said Thomas Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who practices before the high court.
Three frequently mentioned candidates are Judges Diane Wood, 58, of the U.S. appeals court in Chicago; Sonia Sotomayor, 54, of the U.S. appeals court in New York; and Elena Kagan, 48, dean of Harvard Law School.
Wood knows Obama from her time teaching at the University of Chicago. Sotomayor could be the first Latino named to the high court. Kagan, who served as a domestic policy advisor to President Clinton, has won high marks from conservatives for bringing intellectual diversity to the liberal-dominated law faculty at Harvard.
Among Democrats, Govs. Janet Napolitano, 50, of Arizona and Jennifer M. Granholm, 49, of Michigan also are being talked about for top legal jobs in an Obama administration, either as U.S. attorney general or as future Supreme Court nominee. Both were federal prosecutors and attorneys general for their states before being elected governor.
It is not clear that Obama hopes to put the kind of person on the court that Aron and other liberals are dreaming about.
In an interview with the Detroit Free Press editorial board in October, he described Warren, Brennan and Marshall as "heroes of mine. . . . But that doesn't necessarily mean that I think their judicial philosophy is appropriate for today."
