Top News

"President Obama plans to meet Wednesday with Senate leaders to discuss replacing retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter," CongressDaily (subscription) reports. "Obama is to talk with Senate Majority Leader [Harry] Reid, Senate Minority Leader [Mitch] McConnell, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Jeff Sessions, White House officials said Monday."

Sessions, R-Ala., said "Republicans will begin looking into the shortlist of names" Obama "reportedly is considering and even could warn the White House confidentially if they think a nominee is unacceptable," the Washington Times reports.

"It appears the White House has locked in on two competing sets of nominees: those who have traditional judicial and academic backgrounds and another group that comes from what might be called the 'real world,'" the Los Angeles Times reports.

Souter's "departure from the Supreme Court gives the first African American president a historic opportunity to break another barrier by appointing the first Hispanic to the nation's highest court," the Washington Post reports.

Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, "on Monday urged" Obama "to name a woman to the seat," Roll Call (subscription) reports.

The New York Times profiles possible nominee Diane Wood, a federal appellate judge.

Commentary

In Politico, attorney Keenan Kmiec examines the term "judicial activism."

"It is now widely understood that presidents must value youth in their Supreme Court nominees. The reason lies in the combination of two factors: life tenure and the party system," law professor Richard Primus explains in The New Republic.

"It's in the administration's interest to get his replacement confirmed as soon as possible," The Hill remarks.