WHO: Merrick B. Garland.
CURRENT JOB: Judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
BACKGROUND: Garland was born in Chicago in 1952. Then-President Bill Clinton nominated him in 1997 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. A Harvard law graduate, Garland clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Brennan in 1978-79 before entering government service as a special assistant U.S. attorney general. Garland left the Justice Department in 1981 and worked in private practice in Washington until 1993. He took a three-year break during that time to work as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. He was promoted to deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's criminal division in 1993 and in 1994 became principal associate deputy U.S. attorney general, a position he held until his court nomination.
PROS: Respected by conservative and liberal experts following his management of the investigation of the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building and subsequent prosecution of bomber Timothy McVeigh. Moderate legal positions would not likely lead to filibuster threats from Republican senators.
CONS: Moderate legal positions would not excite hard-core liberals as congressional elections come up this year. Was not a finalist in the White House's last search for a Supreme Court nominee, which produced Justice Sonia Sotomayor. President Barack Obama may want to put another woman or minority on the court, instead.
WHO: Jennifer Granholm.
CURRENT JOB: Michigan governor.
BACKGROUND: Granholm was born in 1959 in Vancouver, British Columbia. She earned her law degree from Harvard University in 1987 and broke into the political world as a full-time aide for the Michigan campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988. She entered the legal world in 1988 through her job as an executive assistant for criminal justice issues in the Wayne County executive office. Granholm started work as a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit in 1990, where she stayed until her appointment as Wayne County, Mich., corporation counsel in 1995. She became Michigan's attorney general in 1999 and governor in January 2003.
PROS: Would bring nonjudicial experience to the Supreme Court, which several senators say is needed. Would bring the number of female Supreme Court justices to three, an all-time high. Would bring political and prosecutorial experience.
CONS: No judicial experience. Has said nomination would be a great opportunity but, "I just don't think that's going to happen." Was not a finalist in the White House's last search for a nominee. Questions about her stewardship of Michigan, which was hit hard during the recession, could come up.
WHO: Elena Kagan.
CURRENT JOB: U.S. solicitor general.
BACKGROUND: Kagan was born in 1960 in New York City. She received a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1986, then worked as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Kagan went into private practice in Washington from 1989 until 1991, when she became a professor at the University of Chicago law school. She became associate counsel to Clinton in 1995 and climbed the ladder to deputy assistant to Clinton for domestic policy and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council in 1997. Clinton nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 1999, but she never received a confirmation hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee. She became a professor at Harvard Law School since 1999 and the school's dean in 2003. She was confirmed as solicitor general last year.
PROS: Respected by conservative and liberal lawyers after time at Harvard Law School. One conservative activist last year called Kagan "less extreme than most of President Obama's leading candidates for the Supreme Court." Already known as "Tenth Justice" because the solicitor general is the executive branch's chief lawyer before the high court. Was a finalist in the White House's last search for a nominee and was interviewed by the president. Would bring the number of female justices to three.
CONS: No judicial experience. Thirty-one Republicans voted against her for solicitor general. Republicans refused to hold a hearing for her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1999, a seat that went to John Roberts, now chief justice of the Supreme Court. Logged first Supreme Court argument experience in 2009 as solicitor general. Her stand against military recruitment at Harvard Law School because of the armed forces' "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is sure to be a talking point against her.
WHO: Harold Hongju Koh.
CURRENT JOB: Legal adviser to the State Department.
BACKGROUND: Koh was born in Boston in 1954. He earned his law degree from Harvard, then served as law clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun in 1981-82. He worked in private practice in Washington for a year before being hired on at the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department. He left government to become a law professor in 1985 at Yale University, where he stayed until he became assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor in 1998. He became Yale's law school dean in 2001. He left Yale to work for the State Department after Obama was elected.
