According to Glenn Greenwald, it looks like Obama is set to nominate Elena Kagan to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court. The prospect has already gained the approval of Joe Lieberman, which should tell you something about the nature and quality of this appointment. Despite the availability of numerous judges whose progressive views are well-known and well-documented, Obama seems set to nominate Kagan, who has pronounced virtually nothing on any of the Constitutional issues of the past decade. Kagan's few publicly pronounced opinions favour the Bush version of the so-called "War on Terror" which Stevens opposed vigorously in any challenges brought before the Court while he sat on it.
Greenwald highlights the folly of passing up a chance to re-balance the increasingly conservative court by adding a known progressive jurist and picking instead a largely unknown quantity, who can at best turn out OK and at worst - - as most commentators, including Jeffrey Toobin expect - - push it further to the right.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/13/kagan/index.html
