Justice Pamela Karlan

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Pamela S. Karlan, Professor of law at Stanford Law School
51 Years old.

Pamela Karlan, a well-respected liberal scholar, could also be a controversial, bold and challenging nominee for Democrats. "Bold," in fact, is a word she would likely embrace. In advance of the last nomination battle, Karlan said that Obama should take advantage of his approval ratings to make "a bold statement about what the Constitution means to him." -Time Magazine

Experience

Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Professor of law, University of Virginia School of Law

Founding Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic

Commissioner, California Fair Political Practices Commission

Law clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court

Law clerk, Judge Abraham D. Sofaer, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Author, on Constitutional law and related subjects, well published including a recent book with Goodwin Liu detailing "a progressive vision of constitutional interpretation."

http://www.law.stanford.edu/directory/profile/32/


Because the most important aspect of this nomination is not the confirmation, it is the nominee.

[Unvanguard]

1. She would make an absolutely terrific Supreme Court justice.

Unfortunately, she is far too politically risky to be appointed.

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2. We have 59 votes and need 50, the only filibustered SCOTUS nominee was a criminal

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4. Democrats had more seats the the GOP does now and Alito and Roberts were confirmed

[Unvanguard]

5. Because the Democrats didn't vote as a bloc against them like they should have

but in the context of an appointment of a liberal like Pamela Karlan, a liberal whose liberalism is a matter of clear and extensive public record that can be cited in grandstanding speeches, it's doubtful that the 41 Republicans (and conceivably even a few Democrats) in the Senate will make the same mistake.

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6. We need one Republican to vote against her and for cloture

Dem Senators will not break, I don't think they have on any judicial vote during his Presidency.

[Unvanguard]

9. You're probably right. We could likely pull off 60 votes for a cloture vote for Karlan.

Reluctant Democrats could be brought in line, and Republicans from socially-liberal states like Collins and Snowe could perhaps be swayed. But it would be a long and politically difficult confirmation battle, and there would be a substantial risk of failure (which would be a political disaster). I don't see Obama wanting that kind of fight the summer before midterm elections, especially after the intense partisan division over health care reform.

And that stance, while debatable, is not unreasonable. It takes a majority to get things done on the Court. What matters most, then, is not how liberal a particular justice on the liberal wing is, but how liberal the deciding vote--in this case Justice Kennedy--is. As long as Obama appoints someone to the left of Justice Kennedy, then, as he is virtually certain to do, the Court's ideological balance will not shift much. In that context, the most sensible course of action seems to be what he is likely to do: appoint a moderate liberal without a strong public record on controversial questions.

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10. Maybe the public wants someone who will fight for what they believe in verse run and hide?

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7. Sotomayor no votes:

NAYs ---31 (31 Republics)

Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. She's got my vote.

Not that they'll count it. But she's far superior than any names I've heard from the corporate media or out of the Chicago branch office of Message Discipline LLC.

As Rachel Maddow just pointed out in detail, Justice Stevens - regardless of who appointed him - has been "THE" Liberal on the court in recent years. To replace him with a lukewarm "centrist" would be a crime. The President needs to nominate Karlan, and let it be known that any "Democratic" senators standing in her way can count on exactly ZERO help in the next election.

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8. Go ahead and filibuster her nomination, but make them stand for it

[DefenseLawyer]

11. Her co-author Goodwin Liu would certainly work for me too. n/t

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12. That would cause Sessions head to explode

[DefenseLawyer]

13. That should be a litmus test for all nominees. n/t

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14. Really, if it doesn't happen, you haven't made the right choice