Supreme Court Justice Janet Napolitano?

Supreme Court Justice Janet Napolitano?

Sounds farfetched to you? If so, your ear isn't attuned to the D.C. grapevine... because much of the buzz about Obama's nominee to replace retiring Justice David Souter centers on the former Arizona governor and attorney general. (See Profile of Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Director.)

From President Obama's hyper-political perspective, appointment of Ms. Napolitano to the U.S. Supreme Court makes a lot of sense:

• Since she became Obama's Homeland Security Director on January 21st, just hours after his inauguration, Obama has found his philosophies and priorities more in-sync with Janet Napolitano than perhaps any other cabinet member;

• Napolitano possesses the dignified, rational outlook and demeanor that Obama seeks for the Court (and feels personally comfortable with). She's already become the most credible public face of the Obama cabinet (outside Hillary, of course) ;

• Janet Napolitano hails from red-state Arizona which narrowly voted for John McCain over Obama in the 2008 election. Appointing the two-term Arizona governor who worked well there on a bipartisan basis could be quite popular with Arizona voters disillusioned with Republican politics. (It's no coincidence that Obama is delivering Arizona State University's commencement today!)

Truth is that Janet Napolitano is superbly qualified, by both education and experience, for appointment to the highest U.S. court. And she, indeed, has consistently displayed requisite fair-minded "judicial temperament" over the course of her unblemished career.

Absolutely no one could argue that a Napolitano nomination would be due to her gender, yet Obama would score points with women's groups by appointing a woman.

Ms. Napolitano may be more pro-business, more law-and-order, and value pragmatism over idealism more than many of us progressives pine for on the Court, but that hardly disqualifies her from nomination by a Democratic president.

Still find Supreme Court Justice Napolitano to be farfetched? Take a gander at some of the buzz...

• From Ezra Klein of The American Prospect - "I know that Janet Napolitano is floating around on the White House's short list. I don't really understand why: She's neither very liberal nor a great legal thinker nor armed with radically different life experiences than most members of the governmental elite. Rather, she was an effective moderate politician and, before that, an apparently skilled attorney general."

• From Fox News - "Janet Napolitano declined to rule out being interested in an appointment to the Supreme Court when she was asked on "FOX News Sunday" about speculation that she might be on the list of potential candidates to replace outgoing Justice David Souter."

• From Mark Willen at Kiplinger.com - "I must say I'm somewhat intrigued by reports suggesting Janet Napolitano is on the short list of possible nominees... By all accounts, Obama has been impressed with her quick start in her post, pleased with the way she's handling the swine flu scare and confident she has the kind of pragmatic approach he favors.

  "...she also has the real world experience he's attracted to and I suspect she fits his definition of empathetic -- the one quality he's cited as necessary for a nominee. It also helps that she's been confirmed by the Senate once, so the vetting process (including tax returns) shouldn't be an issue.

  "One reason Obama may be considering Napolitano is that he knows and is comfortable with how she thinks about homeland and other national security issues."

I also concur with Mark Willen when he concludes, "None of this is to say that Obama is close to a decision or to suggest an endorsement of Napolitano -- just some interesting things to think about."

Read my Profile of Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Director .

Related Reading

• DHS Director Janet Napolitano on Border Security, National Security
• Sebelius and Napolitano, Competent Public Face of the Obama Cabinet

(Photo taken on May 13, 2009: Alex Wong/Getty Images)