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| © Doug Mills/The New York Times President Obama said Monday in an interview that he was looking for a “consensus candidate.” |
WASHINGTON — President Obama is
close to a decision on a Supreme Court nominee based purely on qualifications
and experience, White House officials insisted on Monday, but the president’s
allies said that political considerations — including whether a nominee had an
easily defensible record or appeal to Republicans — were clearly part of Mr.
Obama’s calculus.
Speculation now centers on three potential nominees, all federal
circuit court judges: Sri Srinivasan, 49, who was confirmed in 2013 with a
97-to-0 vote; Merrick B. Garland, 63, a moderate who has been a finalist in Mr.
Obama’s previous Supreme Court searches; and Paul J. Watford, 48, a judge on
the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California.
In an afternoon conference call on Monday, Mr. Obama’s political
director, David Simas, and three former senior White House officials told
activists, donors, elected officials and legal experts they were ready with an
elaborate campaign plan after Mr. Obama names his choice. The president’s
decision is expected this week and could come as early as Tuesday.
Armed with public polling data, Mr. Simas said on the call that
the Republicans’ refusal to consider the president’s nominee was “untenable”
and was opposed by two-thirds of the public. He said the White House message
would be far more effective once Mr. Obama had chosen a nominee with
“impeccable credentials,” according to people who dialed in, who insisted on
anonymity to discuss the details of a confidential call.
Mr. Obama himself appeared to concede on Monday that he was
seeking a nominee Republicans would have trouble rejecting. In an interview
with CNN, he said that he would choose a person “who should be a consensus
candidate” to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia, the leader of the court’s
conservative wing who died last month.
Longtime Democratic operatives, including Stephanie Cutter and
Julianna Smoot, deputy managers of Mr. Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, and
Paul Tewes, the architect of his 2008 Iowa caucus win, took part in a call on
Monday with liberal groups that will drive the push for the president’s
nominee.
The groups are preparing to hold events in up to a dozen states
during the two-week congressional recess that begins later this week.
“If the only way to get Republicans to cry uncle and hold a fair
process is to demonstrate that they will go down in flames in November if they
don’t, we are more than happy to oblige,” said Brad Woodhouse, the president of
Americans United for Change, one of the organizations leading the effort.
White House officials and outside groups also discussed talking
points on Monday for use after Mr. Obama announces his choice, and are
preparing biographies for each of the candidates under consideration.
“It’s clear what Republicans are planning to do: They are planning
to tear down the president’s nominee without regard to who the person is,” said
Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. He said the president was “not
making this decision based on any sort of political consideration.”
Mr. Earnest repeatedly declined to say whether the president has
settled on a choice or when he might make an announcement. White House allies
have been arguing for weeks that the president should act quickly to put a
human face on what is now an impersonal partisan fight over the vacancy.
Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University,
said Mr. Obama must decide whether to pick a “grand-slam” candidate — one like
Judge Srinivasan, who is young, moderate and could have a profound effect on
the court — or a “sacrifice fly,” like Judge Watford, an impressive judge whose
positions on the death penalty and immigration would draw criticism from
conservatives but whose nomination could exact a political price from Republicans
who oppose him.
“The Obama White House are the ultimate practitioners of
realpolitik — they have to be making a careful calculus, but the real question
is not how do they win, it’s what game are they playing?” Mr. Turley said.
The choice depends in large part, they said, on whether Mr. Obama
believes his nominee ultimately has a chance at being confirmed: “At best, the
White House is looking at a highly contested nomination, and in those
circumstances, the president generally will look for someone who is thoroughly
moderate or a blind date.”
Judge Srinivasan, who would be the court’s first Indian-American,
has the shortest judicial record of the three, which could limit the potential
for conservative attacks, but also makes him a bit of an ideological cipher.
Judge Watford, an African-American, could be the most liberal of the nominees,
and did not get the kind of universal support that Judge Srinivasan did during
his previous confirmation battle.
Judge Garland is moderate enough that Republicans would find it
difficult to reject him, many Democrats believe, particularly if a Democrat
wins the presidency in November.
Judge Jane L. Kelly, 51, a career public defender-turned appellate
judge who attended law school with Mr. Obama and has been vetted by the White
House, is said to have fallen lower on the president’s list in recent days
because of concerns that her roster of criminal defense clients could yield
lines of attack for Republican critics.
The conservative Judicial Crisis Network said on Friday that it
was running television advertisements attacking Judge Kelly for defending a
child predator later convicted of murdering a 5-year-old girl.
Republican-aligned groups were circulating reports Monday about her
representation of a pipe bomber and a financial fraudster.
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