US SUPREME court justice David Souter is set to retire this summer, offering President Barack Obama his first opportunity to shape the court after almost a decade of conservative government.
Mr Obama yesterday declined to comment on Mr Souter’s decision, which had yet to be made official, but speculation was rife in Washington that the president would choose a woman or a minority candidate.
Appointed to the court by George H W Bush in 1990, Mr Souter has emerged as one of its most liberal justices. His replacement is thus unlikely to influence the political balance of the court, but it could refresh its liberal membership.
At 69, Mr Souter is younger than either Ruth Bader Ginsburg (76) or John Paul Stevens (89), the other two liberal justices whose names have often been mentioned as possible retirees. Mr Souter has long been eager to return from Washington to his New Hampshire home, however, and he is reported to have told friends in recent years that he would leave the court as soon as a Democrat was elected president.
This week’s defection of Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter to the Democrats has given Mr Obama greater freedom in nominating judges, as the Democrats will have a filibuster-proof senate majority once Al Franken is confirmed as the winner of last November’s race in Minnesota.
“I think that, given the proportion of women in our society, that one out of nine is under-represented,” Mr Specter said, referring to the fact that Ms Ginsburg is the only woman on the supreme court.
Among the women likely to be considered are recently confirmed solicitor general Elena Kagan; US appeals court judges Sonya Sotomayor; and Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Georgia supreme court. Men who have been mentioned as potential nominees include Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, who is married to Mr Obama’s Irish-born foreign policy adviser Samantha Power.
The supreme court is delicately balanced between four liberals and four conservatives, with moderate Anthony Kennedy often providing the swing vote.
During the election campaign, Mr Obama said he was more interested in personal qualities than political litmus tests in choosing judicial nominees.
“We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognise what it’s like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that’s the criteria by which I’m going to be selecting my judges,” he told a conference in 2007.
The White House has been told that Mr Souter will retire in June, when the court finishes its work for the summer, but the retirement is likely to take effect only once a successor is confirmed, possibly in October.
Judicial nominations have become increasingly politicised and Republicans have hinted that they are bracing for a major fight over Mr Souter’s successor.