Keefe, at right, and his nominees.
In the view of one leading New Haven attorney, President Obama should consider bringing New Haven’s Harold Koh back to Washington — this time as a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Criminal-defense attorney Hugh Keefe suggested Koh, a former Yale Law dean and Obama administration State Department legal counsel, as a replacement for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died Saturday.
If Obama doesn’t take the suggestion, Keefe has two others: firebrand U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and U.S. District Court Judge Jose Cabranes.
Obama has no shortage of suggestions for Scalia’s replacement, of course. But in case he’s casting a wider net, the Independent asked some local legal-watchers like Keefe to add their picks to the pot.
They responded with a variety of names, including some from that breeding famous breeding ground of Supreme Court nominees, New Haven, Connecticut.
Holder, Harp, Carter.
“How about [former Attorney General] Eric Holder or Stephen Carter,” the Yale law professor and noted author? said New Haven Mayor Toni Harp.
Dillon, Beasley, Srinavasan.
State Rep. Pat Dillon reached for two names already on short lists: Justice Cheri Beasley of the North Carolina Supreme Court and U.S. District Judge Sri Srinivasan of Washington, D.C.
Markley, Looney.
State Senate President Martin Looney of New Haven, a Democrat, said in an ideal world he’d like to see a “progressive” nominee. But given political realities, he said, in this circumstance he’d advise the president to choose “somebody who would be seen as a respected moderate jurist who under normal circumstances would get apoproval, to point out the Republican [U.S.] Senate’s unwillingness to be reasonable and how they’ve gone over an ideological cliff.” Across the aisle, Republican State Sen. Joe Markley had this same analysis: “I suspect that whoever [Obama] nominates is not going to get confirmed anyway. The smartest thing he could do is nominate who’s extremely acceptable, somebody who really seems to be above politics. Put the Republicans in the tough spot of refusing to act on the nominee. If he picks somebody who’s more ideological, it’s going to be easier for the Republicans.” Looney also advised Obama to pick a legal expert who hasn’t been a judge in order to diversify the experiences of the bench — the way previous president chose former prosecutors or attorneys general or elected officials like Earl Warren and Hugo Black. Perhaps a U.S. senator would make a nominee more palatable to her or his colleagues for nomination, he noted.
Fernandez’s Five
Nguyen, Liu, Katyal, Lynch, Perez.
Fernandez.
Henry Fernandez — director of New Haven’s LEAP youth agency, CEO of the consulting firm Fernandez Advisors, and a graduate of Yale Law — offered the most detailed take on nominees he’d like to see. Here they are, with his reasons:
• Loretta Lynch, Attorney General of the United States. “Lynch has served as U.S. attorney and on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. She has been unafraid to bring the U.S. Attorney’s Office into key issues involving race which are facing the country including in Ferguson, Missouri and New York City following the Eric Garner killing. She oversaw as well the prosecution in the Abner Louima case. Internationally she is best known for taking on FIFA in the wide ranging corruption scandal. Connection to New Haven: none that I know of.”
• California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu. “Connection to New Haven: Went to Yale Law School, graduated in 1998. He was instrumental in setting up AmeriCorps, the country’s national service program. He clerked for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”
• Thomas Perez, U.S. secretary of labor. “Tom has been a civil and labor rights advocate for decades. He served as assistant U.S. attorney for civil rights. Connection to New Haven: None that I know of. ”
• Neal Katyal, former acting solicitor general of the United States.
“Neal served as acting solicitor general when Elena Kagan was named to the Supreme Court. Currently he is a professor at Georgetown Law. He has argued a wide range of cases before the Supreme Court, including defending the Affordable Care Act and the Voting Rights Act. He was also principal attorney for the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Connection to New Haven: Graduate of Yale Law School, 1995 and clerked for Second Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi in New Haven.”
• Judge Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen, 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. “An Obama appointee, Judge Nguyen has a significant practice background which could be very helpful. She has served as a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles and a federal district judge as well as a private attorney and an assistant U.S. attorney. This combination should mean that she would bring to the Court a broad real world understanding of how the courts work. Connection to New Haven: none that I know of.”
Have any suggestions of your own? Feel free to post them in the comments section below.