Just Announced.

Obviously, the question now is who Obama will nominate to succeed him.

My predictions:

• They will be Protestant
• Stevens is the only Protestant on the court, the rest are Catholic or Jewish.
• They will be a woman and/or a minority.
• Because it will be his way to pander to the base when he chooses a basically conservative nominee.
• They will be tepid, at best, on Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose in general.
• Since Barack Obama has always been tepid, at best, on Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose in general.
• They will generally favor a very expansive definition of the powers of the Presidency.
• Since Barack Obama has aggressively asserted a very expansive definition of the powers of the Presidency.
• They will generally be rather pro corporate, though not as much as Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts, and Kennedy.
• Since Barack Obama is ……… You get the picture.
• They will not be particularly pro organized labor.
• Obama has clearly been tepid on labor issues, as shown by his efforts to soft pedal the EFCA (Card Check).

What I would like to see, beyond ideology, is that:

• They not have worked as a prosecutor, which tends to set people off on a legal path that is hostile to the rights of the accused.
• That they not, and have not been, a sitting Federal Judge, which is increasingly the norm, and we need more diversity of experience in there.
• Nominating someone who is publicly an atheist.

Things that could make this amusing, but will not happen:

• Nominating Bill Clinton, just to make the ‘Phant’s heads explode.
• Nominating a Muslim.
• Nominating Hillary Clinton, just to make the ‘Phant’s heads explode.

But these will not happen.