WASHINGTON — As President Obama's search for a Supreme Court justice progresses, it appears the White House has locked in on two competing sets of nominees: those who have traditional judicial and academic backgrounds and another group that comes from what might be called the "real world."
Since Justice David H. Souter announced his retirement this month, much of the speculation about who will succeed him has centered on candidates such as U.S. Solicitor Gen. Elena Kagan, Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York and Judge Diane Wood of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
But the president's own words have made some of the obvious favorites less obvious.
Obama said his choice would possess a "quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes."
What Obama meant by a "quality of empathy" has been left to interpretation. The White House said the president was seeking a candidate with a diverse set of life experiences.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who chairs the committee that will conduct the nominee's confirmation hearing, has echoed that idea, advising Obama to select someone from beyond the "judicial monastery."
That seemingly would point away from prospects such as Kagan, a former dean of Harvard Law School, and Wood, who worked in the federal government before being named to the federal appeals court. And it could favor a candidate such as Sotomayor, a Latina and former New York prosecutor who grew up in a Bronx housing project.
Or such criteria could pave the way for a less traditional choice, such as Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Granholm or Napolitano would provide a different profile for a Supreme Court nominee.
Granholm, 50, a Democrat, is a former federal prosecutor and state attorney general. Napolitano, 51, served in those capacities as well before twice being elected Arizona's Democratic governor.
The White House also has hinted there are candidates who have not been publicly discussed.
Lee Epstein, a law professor at Northwestern University, said the Democrats' comfortable majority in the Senate gave Obama maneuvering room to select a nontraditional nominee, though not necessarily a controversial one.
