New Associate Justice: In Depth Profiles

(By Andrew MacKie-Mason)

As promised, here are some more in depth profiles of the two most likely candidates for the possible Supreme Court seat this spring. Also see the brief profiles of the nine possibilities here. Hopefully these in depth profiles give you a better idea of the top choice's qualifications.

Interestingly enough, selecting Diane Wood would add not only further gender diversity to the Court, it would also bring educational diversity since Judge Wood never went to an Ivy League school.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan

Education:

• A.B. (summa cum laude) from Princeton University
• M.Phil from Worcester College, Oxford University
• J.D. (magna cum laude) from Harvard University

Student Jobs:

• Supervising Editor, Harvard Law Review

Clerkships:

• Judge Abner Mikva (Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit)
• Justice Thurgood Marshall (U.S. Supreme Court)

Professional Experience:

• Williams & Connolly (Washington, D.C.)
• University of Chicago Law School: Assistant Professor, Tenured Professor
• White House: Associate White House Counsel (Clinton Administration)
• Harvard Law School: Dean
• Department of Justice: Solicitor General (Obama Administration)

Recent Notable Quote: “Hezbollah builds bombs, Hezbollah builds homes,” Solicitor General Elena Kagan said. “What Congress decided was when you help Hezbollah build homes, you are also helping Hezbollah build bombs.” (The New Yorker)


Judge Diane Wood (U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit)

Education:

• B.A. (highest honors) from the University of Texas at Austin
• J.D. (high honors, Order of the Coif) from the University of Texas School of Law

Student Jobs:

• Editor, Texas Law Review

Clerkships:

• Judge Irving Goldberg (U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit)
• Justice Harry Blackmun (U.S. Supreme Court)

Professional Experience:

• Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State: Attorney-Advisor (Carter Administration)
  
• Covington & Burling (Washington, D.C.)
• Georgetown University: Assistant Professor of Law
• Department of Justice: Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General (Reagan Administration), Deputy Assistant Attorney General (Clinton Administration)
  
• University of Chicago: Professor of Law, Associate Dean, Senior Lecturer in Law

Judicial Experience:

• United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit (Appointed by President Clinton)

Notable Quote: "One who advocates a narrow, text-based approach to the Constitution would be compelled to answer that the Constitution has reached the end of its rope, for reasons I shall explain in this paper. If, on the other hand, one is willing to give the broad provisions in the Constitution and its Amendments a generous reading, thereby validating the many adaptations that the Court and country have endorsed over the years, our old Constitution has stood the test of time admirably. The basic charter that suited a small, relatively powerless, rural economy with a population of 3.9 million now serves a global superpower of nearly three hundred million citizens, where economically the relevant stage is the entire world, where national and global communications are instantaneous, and where it is easier to get from New York to Honolulu than it once was to get from New York to Philadelphia." (80 N.Y.U.L. Rev. 1079)

In other words, Judge Wood believes in a dynamic approach to interpreting the Constitution, an approach which lets the Constitution adapt to modern times. (Also see my discussion of this same principle with regard to the Commerce Clause.)