Well, yeah.

he could go for Debra Livingston — a Bush II appointee to the 2nd

I like your style.

Ah, OK, that makes a lot more sense. As for the qualifications of a blogger for SCOTUS, depends on which blogger. Cass Sunstein wouldn’t be bad, though realistically I think Obama should follow successful tradition and pick judges from the federal appellate or state supreme court benches. Obviously Sunstein is a lot brighter than Harriet Miers, but it’s still good to have had some minor league judicial experience before going to the dance.

I’d consider someone off the Federal Circuit and someone off the Delaware Supreme Court — one person with expertise in trade, antitrust, bureaucratic law, etc., and one person with a solid grounding in corporate law. As Michael Dorf says, everyone’s got their specialty PLUS constitutional law, so picking textbook writers like Kathleen Sullivan doesn’t actually contribute much.

If Obama really wants to appeal across the aisle and also wants another woman on the court, he could go for Debra Livingston — a Bush II appointee to the 2nd Circuit, but actually fairly politically liberal except with regard to criminal law. The Republicans couldn’t block her because they all approved her for the appellate seat.

Faux pas.

David Iglesias. Not Matt. Don’t know how qualified a blooger would be for the SCOTUS.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Stevens definitely is going to step down; his wife isn’t well and he told a reporter that he had a specific date in mind on which to leave, which I’m betting will be soon after Obama’s inauguration.

Ginsburg would have been one I thought also would be stepping down. She looks and sounds somewhat frail, has had significant health problems and fell asleep during oral argument two years ago. But when she spoke at an event a couple weeks ago, she said she was planning to stay at the Court to the same age as Brandeis, i.e. until she’s 83, which would be another 8 years. Sadly, I’m not sure her health will permit that, and I also wouldn’t want to risk that and would prefer that she step down toward the end of Obama’s first term to ensure that he appoints her replacement. But she certainly doesn’t seem to be planning to leave ASAP like Stevens, and has picked clerks going out to the 2012 October term.

Breyer and Souter both seem to be in good shape, ditto Kennedy, Alito and Roberts. I think the only exit we’ll see in the short term is Stevens.