Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy said today there are two conditions for filling the Supreme Court vacancy before the start of the court's fall session, and one of them has already been met. The first step, he said, was the timing of Justice John Paul Stevens' retirement announcement. Leahy suggested on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" that he had something to do with that.

"I had met with Justice Stevens several weeks ago and we talked about the possibility of his retirement ... and I had urged him at the time to announce it in April to give the president more time, and that's what he did," Leahy said.

The second key, according to Leahy, is a quick nomination by President Obama. While he expects the president to move quickly, he is also urging that Obama "look outside the judicial monastery, at least consider somebody from outside there."