The retirement of Justice Stevens is really not good news for those of us on the left:
The leading prospects — U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan and federal appellate judges Merrick Garland and Diane Wood — are relative moderates. Kagan has backed strong presidential authority over national security; rulings by Garland and Wood suggest they would expand rights only gradually.
“The candidates who are truly liberals aren’t really on the table,” said Tom Goldstein, a Washington appellate lawyer whose Scotusblog Web site tracks the court. “You can just tell that it’s not where the White House is headed, and the groups themselves seemingly accept it.”
Sadly this was to be expected. Obama is not a liberal, despite how much the right (and some on the left) wants us to believe it. As I’ve said before, he is actually to the right of Hillary Clinton.