Who Would Obama Pick for Supreme Court?

Barack Obama's election is unlikely to transform the Supreme Court, as the four justices of the conservative bloc are unlikely to retire. But if the 88-year-old John Paul Stevens departs, the new president will have an opportunity to make his mark. Court observers speculate that Obama would choose a more moderate voice over a liberal crusader, but everyone agrees: the new president will almost certainly pick a woman.

"It's absurd that the Supreme Court has only one woman, and everyone recognizes it," one Washington lawyer told the Los Angeles Times. Some of the names being mentioned include:

• Diane Wood, an appellate judge and a colleague of Obama's at the University of Chicago.
• Sonia Sotomayor, on the bench in New York, who would be the court's first Latina justice.
• Elena Kagan, dean of the Harvard Law School, a former Clinton adviser.
• Or Obama could choose a governor: Arizona's Janet Napolitano could end up at the court, if she isn't tapped for AG first.

(More US Supreme Court stories.)