Will President Obama be bringing some SCOTUS-related material along with him to Camp David for Memorial Day weekend? Perhaps, according to press secretary Robert Gibbs.

"I think he's looking forward to spending Memorial Day weekend with his family," Gibbs said during today's press briefing. "I don't doubt that he'll take some reading along with him, and work on his selection."

Meanwhile, criticism is mounting against appellate judge and short-lister Diane Wood. National Review's Ed Whelan -- who has written several posts criticizing Wood -- offered a summary argument against her this morning. Later, he followed up with yet another post contrasting her position on military commissions with Obama's.

Wood has received praise, though, from experts on the left and right of the political spectrum. Doug Kendall, president of the progressive Constitutional Accountability Center, calls her an "intellectual leader on one of the best courts of appeals in the country." National Journal's own Stuart Taylor Jr. wrote on this blog yesterday that Wood's "judicial record has won the respect of conservative as well as liberal colleagues and many other experts as well."

Republicans, meanwhile, are gearing up for whoever awaits them at the confirmation hearings. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., announced today that Elisebeth Cook will be his chief counsel for Supreme Court nominations. Per CQ's Legal Beat, Cook was an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy during the George W. Bush administration.

Something else to watch out for after the long weekend: On Tuesday, the California Supreme Court will hand down its decision on whether or not to uphold Proposition 8, the ban on gay marriage. Observers believe this decision could influence the confirmation hearings and trigger more questioning over the nominee's record on gay rights. The Volokh Conspiracy blog has some thoughts on this issue.