POTENTIAL OBAMA NOMINEES

April 11, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Sketches of potential candidates to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, listed alphabetically:

Merrick B. Garland

Judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. PROS: Respected by conservatives and liberals for his management of the probe of the Oklahoma City bombings.SFlbCONS: Obama may want to nominate a woman.

Elena Kagan

U.S. solicitor general. Kagan was born in 1960 in New York City. She received a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1986, then worked as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Beame a professor at Harvard Law School in 1999 and the school’s dean in 2003. She was confirmed as solicitor general last year. PROS: Respected by conservative and liberal lawyers after time at Harvard Law School. CONS: No judicial experience. Thirty-one Republicans voted against her for solicitor general. Republicans refused to hold a hearing for her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1999, a seat that went to John Roberts, now chief justice of the United States.

Harold Hongju Koh

Legal adviser to the State Department. Koh was born in Boston in 1954. He earned his law degree from Harvard, then served as law clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun in 1981-82. PROS: Would make history as the first Asian-American Supreme Court nominee. CONS: No judicial experience. His liberal stances would guarantee a fierce confirmation fight.

Diane Pamela Wood

Judge on 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Wood was born in 1950 in Plainfield, N.J. Clinton nominated her to the 7th Circuit in 1995. She earned her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law before clerking for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun from 1976-1977. PROS: Was a finalist in the White House’s last search for a nominee and was interviewed by the president. Would bring the number of female justices to three. CONS: Would ignite a battle over abortion rights during the confirmation process. Anti-abortion activists portray Wood as being hostile to their cause.

Source: Associated Press