The White House has confirmed that President Obama met Thursday with one candidate for the Supreme Court, the first time he has met with any potential nominee in the Oval Office since Justice John Paul Stevens announced he is retiring.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed the AP report of the president's meeting with federal Judge Sidney Thomas of Montana. Gibbs also told reporters this afternoon that an announcement is possible next week. "I ruled this week out," he said. "I'm not going to rule out next week based on the fact that the president is seeing more prospective candidates."

Gibbs said a decision "will come in the next little bit of time." He would not be more specific, but he said "the president has talked to several people." Also today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said they expect Obama to make his decision within two weeks.