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One Supreme Court Nominee the GOP Would Find Impossible to Block

That's Chris Bowers at Open Left's description of Leah Ward Sears. "If Obama is looking for an easy confirmation process for a good judge, Sears would have to be the choice," Bowers says. "Sears seems like the best bet right now and certainly better than Elana Kagan."

Also: NYT and AP report two new names enter the mix as leading candidates to replace Stevens: Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sidney R. Thomas.

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Report: Fmr GA Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears on SCOTUS Short List, "Strong" Record on LGBT Rights

An update to a successor to retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who announced on Friday that he would retire in the summer. Over the weekend, a "short list" of candidates emerged: Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 7th circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood, DC Court of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

ABC News adds another name to the list which first surfaced last May during the selection process to replace Justice David Souter: Former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, who was the first female African-American chief justice in US history. When nominated by then-Gov. Zell Miller in 1992, she became the first woman and the youngest person to ever sit on the court.‬‪ Sears retired in June and is now in private practice at Schiff Hardin.

The Hill confirms Sears is said to be on Obama's short list.

Georgia LGBT activists says Sears is "strong" on gay rights. Southern Voice reported last May: "Sears' legal opinions on gay-related issues, including voting with the majority to overturn Georgia’s sodomy law, drew efforts from conservatives to unseat her. In 2004, Gov. Sonny Perdue and the Georgia Christian Coalition backed Grant Brantley in the race; Sears won easily." Sears also opposed the legislature's ultimately successful attempt to place an anti same-sex marriage amendment on the ballot. Writing the dissent, Sears noted the process "would change the Constitution in more ways than one and thus 'amend the state Constitution by stealth.'"

More on Leah Ward Sears here ...

Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears Criticized by Gay Groups

In the weeks after the announcement that Supreme Court Justice David Souter would retire, one of the most prominent names mentioned as a replacement was Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears. Despite the nation's first black female chief justice's "strong" record on gay rights, some gays are criticizing Sears' decision to join a think tank after she retires June 30. The founder of the New York-based Institute for American Values opposes same-sex marriage, according to this interesting albeit uneven report by the AP.

Institute president David Blankenhorn, critics point out, wrote in 2008 that changing the definition of marriage to accommodate gay couples 'definitively undermines' the institution of marriage. Blankenhorn, however, has said he doesn’t oppose Congress supporting civil unions if states can have exceptions allowing religious groups not to accept them.

Jeff Graham, executive director of the gay rights group Georgia Equality, said Sears’ decision to join the Institute for American Values is "something that’s very troubling, concerning and at the very least disappointing to me."  State Rep. Karla Drenner, the state’s only openly gay legislator, said she felt "betrayed."

Gay rights groups eagerly backed Sears in 2004 when she faced Grant Brantley, a conservative who earned the endorsements of Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and other state GOP leaders. She has also drawn criticism from conservatives for siding with an opinion that overturned the state’s law against sodomy.

Sears is no longer on the short list to replace Souter. The chief justice says she will join IAV to continue her push for reducing unnecessary divorces, an issue she has embraced since becoming chief justice in 2005. There are scholars on both sides of the marriage issue at IAV. Sears will not take a public position on same-sex marriage because it could come before her for judicial review. And rightly so.

I'm taking Justice Leah Ward Sears at her word. Sears overturned Georgia’s law against sodomy and opposed the legislature's ultimately successful attempt to place an anti same-sex marriage amendment on the ballot. Sounds like a friend to me.

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SCOTUS: Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears "Strong" on Gay Rights

In the earlier post on the retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter, one of the names we mentioned as a potential successor is Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears. ABC News, The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and many others now report Sears is on the President's "short list" of possible nominees. Sears is a "strong" advocate on gay rights issues, Southern Voice reports:

Sears, who will also step down in June, has served on the state’s highest court since 1992. The first woman and youngest justice in the court’s history, she was also its first African-American female chief justice. Sears has kept her plans for her retirement private, although she has hinted at wanting a larger public role.

"I also believe in ‘get married, stay married,’ which a lot of right-wing people have co-opted that as their issue," she said. "But it’s not their issue, I thought it was my issue too. Political games are played with all kinds of issues and I don’t think issues belong to any one group."

Sears’ legal opinions on gay-related issues, including voting with the majority to overturn Georgia’s sodomy law, drew efforts from conservatives to unseat her. In 2004, Gov. Sonny Perdue and the Georgia Christian Coalition backed Grant Brantley in the race; Sears won easily.

Sears also opposed the legislature's ultimately successful attempt to place an anti same-sex marriage amendment on the ballot, writing in the dissent the process "would change the Constitution in more ways than one and thus 'amend the state Constitution by stealth.' "

The chief justice also wrote the majority opinion and the ended the imprisonment of  21-year-old Genarlow Wilson, who had been serving a 10-year sentence for having consensual oral sex with another teenager when he was 17-years-old. Sears said the harsh sentence was "grossly disproportionate" to the crime, which "did not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children."

Report: Supreme Court Justice David Souter to Retire in June

POTUS gets his chance to shape SCOTUS. Associate Supreme Court Justice David Souter "plans to retire at the end of the term in June, giving President Obama his first appointment to the Supreme Court," reports The New York Times.

"Justice Souter, who was appointed in 1990 by a Republican president, the first George Bush, but became one of the most reliable members of the court’s liberal wing, has grown increasingly sour on Washington and intends to return to his home state, New Hampshire, according to the people briefed on his plans. The departure will open the first seat for a Democratic president to fill in 15 years and could prove a test of Mr. Obama’s plans for reshaping the nation’s judiciary."

NPR reports Souter was also "satisfied" that neither the court's oldest member, 89-year-old John Paul Stevens, nor its lone woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had cancer surgery last winter, "wanted to retire at the end of this term."

The 76-year-old Ginsburg is the lone female on the court and the president may be inclined to name another woman. The most prominent names mentioned include Elena Kagan, the former Harvard Law School Dean appointed as solicitor general, 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Sonia Sotomayor, and, Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears.