Does Barack Obama want a Supreme Court nomination battle right now?

    As everyone has heard by now, Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of this session giving Barack Obama his second chance to shape the Supreme Court to his vision. Much like his first nomination didn’t change the overall make up of the 5-4 split court, neither will this one. Justice John Paul Stevens is probably the most liberal member of the Supreme Court so the balance in the court will remain the same, but this process does actually present the president with some interesting problems. 

  There is speculation that Barack Obama does not want a long drawn out Supreme Court nomination battle and may be willing to nominate a more moderate justice to the Supreme Court in order to speed up the process. According to people involved closely with the nomination process, eight out of the ten names being looked at are not far left justices. These same people also claim that the president does not want another major battle with Republicans so soon after the hotly contested healthcare reform battle that was passed in such an underhanded manner, dividing the nation and threatening the Democrats’ majorities in November.

  This is where the biggest problem lies for Barack Obama in this process; if he does indeed decide to nominate a more moderate justice to the Supreme Court it will infuriate the far left, they will consider it a sell out to the Republicans, but if he does nominate a far left liberal it will draw out the confirmation process probably all the way up to the November election and congress will be able to get little else done.

  If he does decide to nominate a more moderate justice I do not think that it will be because he does not want the fight, but that he can’t afford the fight. By that I mean, his agenda can’t afford the fight. His agenda will be stalled over the Summer and he will lose any momentum that he had following his healthcare “victory.”  One thing that the healthcare reform debate has shown us is that this president is not afraid to stand up and fight for what he believes in, even if the people are against him, so if he does go this route it will be a compromise between the court and passing more of his agenda before he losses control of the congress.

  The question is, will he compromise? Another thing that the healthcare reform debate showed us was that he was unwilling to compromise on something he believed so strongly in, will that change now? Barack Obama seems to be a man who knows what he wants and is determined to get it, he will want to change the makeup of the court AND pass his agenda but I am not sure he can do both. It is going to be hard for him to compromise between the two, but will he be willing to throw away any political capital the healthcare reform “victory” gave him on a justice that will not change the overall makeup of the court? That is where the real question lies.

  The wildcard in this issue may just be the fact that Justice John Paul Stevens was the most liberal member of the Supreme Court. There is always the chance that Barack Obama feels there will not be a hugely contested fight to stop the nomination of a far leftist to the court because the makeup of the court will remain the same. If Republicans compromise because of this it will be a big mistake for them in November.

  My opinion is that Barack Obama is going to go for it all. I think he will nominate a far left justice and try to push his agenda through at the same time. I believe that this man is an ideologue and will not be able to compromise his beliefs by nominating a justice to the Supreme Court that doesn’t fit his view of the constitution just as a means to provide the congress with more time to pass his agenda.

  Remember all of the speculation after the election that Barack Obama was actually going to govern from the center to bring the country together? That wasn’t exactly what happened and I don’t think that is what is going to happen here either.