While the rest of the media speculated on who would be the next Supreme Court Justice nominee to replace John Paul Stevens, they completely ignored one possibility: Hillary Clinton. Last week, Project Economic Refugee projected that Hillary Clinton would enter the conversation because of multiple factors. To re-read them, please visit this previous post here. Now being reported by the Huffington Post:
WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch says he’s heard Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name mentioned in connection with the Supreme Court vacancy brought about by the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens.
Hatch didn’t elaborate in an interview Monday. Appearing with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy on NBC’s “Today” show, the Utah Republican said only, “I heard Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name today and that would be an interesting person in the mix.”
Read the rest here.
Update: MSNBC has now picked up on the story and got a denial from the White House.
The White House dismissed speculation Monday that Clinton is a frontrunner for the job. President Barack Obama “thinks Secretary Clinton is doing an excellent job as Secretary of State and wants her to remain in that position,” said spokesman Tommy Vietor, according to POLITICO.
Read the rest of the story here. This is getting even more interesting.
Update # 2: amid the denials coming from the White House that Hillary Clinton is not even being considered, a new name has been added to the list- Sidney Thomas.
Update # 3: MSNBC’s Host Ed Schultz had an interesting suggestion-Al Gore.
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Update # 4: DailyKos has a more updated list of nominees (via the AP, and as an intro, they also repeat that Hillary Clinton is not being considered) that includes Leah Ward Sears, who has ties to CA’s Prop 8 Campaign:
Another new name on this list, Leah Ward Sears, is raising concern because of her strong support for “traditional” marriage, including a 2006 op-ed in WaPo lauding the work of the Institute for American Values, an organization founded by David Blankenhorn. Blankenhorn was active in the Prop 8 battle in California in 2008, on the Yes side, writing an op-ed in the LA Times declaring himself a “liberal Democrat” who is opposed to gay marriage.This doesn’t mean that Sears would be a judicial activist for “traditional family values,” but her record on equality issues does bear scrutiny as this is likely to be the a key civil rights issue to come to the court in the near future.