Imagine Supreme Court Appointees if Kerry Had Won?
If John Kerry had been elected president, Justice Scalia might have second thoughts about leaving. But Kerry still would likely have at least two appointments. It’s likely that Republicans will maintain control of the US Senate, which must confirm Supreme Court nominees. This is bad news for the liberals’ number-one hope, Laurence Tribe.
Tribe is a close friend of Kerry’s top adviser, Robert Shrum. And Shrum would like nothing more than to elect a president who would name Tribe, 62, to the Court.
If Kerry looks for a younger man, he might turn to Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering partner Seth Waxman, who served as Solicitor General in the Clinton administration, as did another candidate, North Carolina native Walter Dellinger.
To replace O’Connor, Kerry might consider replacing one Sandra with another. Federal appeals-court judge Sandra L. Lynch of Boston is Kerry’s hometown favorite and would be on any shortlist. Appointed by President Clinton in 1994 to replace Stephen Breyer, Lynch was supported at the time by both Kerry and his colleague Edward Kennedy.
Other possible Kerry appointees are appeals-court judge David Tatel and Yale professor and former Harry Blackmun clerk Harold Koh. A moderate choice for the bench could be former Patton Boggs partner Merrick Garland, a Democrat considered confirmable by a Republican Senate.
Should a Kerry victory help the Democrats win back control of the Senate, the possibilities grow even more interesting. They might include a sitting senator whose own presidential ambitions might be dashed by a Kerry victory. Hillary Clinton’s friends long have said that if the former law-school professor could pick one job in Washington, it wouldn’t be president; it would be Chief Justice of the US Supreme
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