SCOTUS Watch

If Politico’s Mike Allen is correct, Solicitor General Elena Kagan is the shoo-in. Looks like the betting at online prediction market Intrade agrees with him.

But don’t feel too badly for the others. A look at financial disclosures for two other high-court short-listers—federal appeals Judges Merrick Garland and Diane Wood—reveals they’re doing just fine.

The fourth short-lister, federal appeals Judge Sidney Thomas, is considered the least likely nominee of the four candidates, but supporters say he shouldn’t be counted out.

Whatever the case, looks like we’ll get the official announcement as early as Monday.

Obama has plenty to consider before then. He completed his interviews with all four contenders on Tuesday, when he met with Wood.  

Aside from the president and Vice President Joe Biden, the frontrunners have also been meeting with a third key player in the selection process: White House counsel Robert Bauer. Even before his predecessor Greg Craig packed up his things, Bauer had apparently begun mapping out a strategy for Obama’s next Supreme Court nomination. One of his goals: avoiding any “Wise Latina” controversies this time around.  

We’ll see if he succeeds once the Senate confirmation phase begins.

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Marisa M. Kashino

Senior Editor

Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 and was a senior editor until 2022.