Klobuchar for Supreme Court?

Posted at 11:14 AM on April 5, 2010 by Mike Mulcahy (4 Comments)
Filed under: U.S. Senate

The New York Times and the Washington Post both had interviews over the weekend with U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens where he talked about his possible retirement. Stevens is 89 and said his decision will come soon.

To quote the Times:

Hints about Justice Stevens's possible departure started in September, when he confirmed that he had hired only a single law clerk, instead of the usual four, for the term that will start this fall. In occasional public statements since then, Justice Stevens, the leader of the court's liberal wing, said he had not yet made up his mind. But the White House is bracing for a summertime confirmation battle, the second of the Obama presidency.

On Face the Nation on CBS yesterday host Bob Schieffer suggested that Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is on the list to replace Stevens, although the idea was pretty quickly shot down by CBS Chief Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford. You can see the exhange about three minutes in:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

As far as I can tell, Klobuchar's name first came up in the Huffington Post on Friday, but that piece did a service of both raising the idea and rejecting it in the same breath by saying this under Klobuchar's picture:

The current political climate, Congress' low job approval ratings and the tenuous Democratic majority in the Senate all suggest that Klobuchar, though widely considered a strong choice, is unlikely to be nominated.

I have a call into Klobuchar's office but haven't heard anything back yet.

Back in 90's state Supreme Court Justice Alan Page's name was floated as a possible U.S. Supreme Court pick. Of course nothing ever came of it. I just floated it again for no particular reason.

Update:

I just talked to Sen. Klobuchar. She says she is honored her name is being mentioned, but she's not aware of being on any short list. She says she loves her job, and she would never leave what she is doing now.

Here's the interview.

Comments (4)

"As far as I can tell, Klobuchar's name first came up in the Huffington Post on Friday"

Back in February, Eric Black (MN Post) picked up a piece at SCOTUS blog, that had Sen Klobuchar on the shortlist.

http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2010/02/24/16228/klobuchar_and_the_coming_scotus_vacancy

http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/02/on-october-4-2010-elena-kagan-will-ask-her-first-question-as-a-supreme-court-justice/

Posted by bsimon | April 5, 2010 12:53 PM

With Senator Klobuchar's recent 49th most liberal/50th most conservative Senator ranking - combined with the Senate practice of being nice to former colleagues being nominated for almost any presidential appointment - it seems like a strong way to short circuit a partisan nomination fight.

Posted by Jon | April 5, 2010 1:53 PM

Good catch, bsimon. It slipped my mind, which happens with disturbingly increasing frequency these days.

Posted by Mike Mulcahy | April 5, 2010 3:42 PM

Big challenge for Klobuchar nomination this year is that it would open the door to Governor Pawlenty appointing a Republican to her Senate seat. As such, not likely to happen given the prognostications of fall election losses for the Democrats in the Senate.

Posted by Dawn | April 6, 2010 3:09 PM

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