Reacting to the retirement announcement of Justice John Paul Stevens, a conservative operative who was one of the fiercest critics of Sonia Sotomayor tells TPMDC that he believes President Obama is in a weaker position now that he was fresh off the election last summer — and that he will pick a “moderate” for the court.
Curt Levey, executive director of the Committee for Justice, tells TPMDC: “We’ll certainly be involved one way or another. As the loyal opposition I’m sure we’ll point out what we see as the weaknesses” of any Obama nominee.
But he continued: “It does depend on who he nominates — if he nominates someone like Garland, there won’t be a lot to complain about,” referring to DC federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland. “You’ll have, if not a love fest, something close to it if it’s a Garland. If it’s a Wood or Karlan, you’d have a huge fight,” says Levey, referring to Chicago appeals court Judge Diane Wood, whose name was floated last time around, and Pamela Karlan, a Stanford Law School professor.
During the Sotomayor fight, Levey was one of the loudest voices calling Sotomayor an intellectual light weight:
This time around, Levey believes Obama will choose a “moderate” for the court.
“I think the other difference is the fact that we have an election coming up and Obama is not walking on water like he did last summer,” Levey says. “You’re going to have some Red State Democrats who are eager to show they are not liberals.”
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