Obama Meets With Senators in Effort to Speed Court Choice

By PETER BAKER
NYT

WASHINGTON — President Obama has accelerated his search for a new Supreme Court justice, talking with several candidates and reaching out to lawmakers as he tries to select a replacement for the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens within the next two weeks.

Mr. Obama met with Senate leaders from both parties on Wednesday and called nine other senators from the Judiciary Committee, but offered no public hints about which way he was leaning.

The only insight the president gave into his thinking was to say that he has no abortion litmus test but wants a justice who favors women’s rights, including “bodily integrity.”

Unlike his White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who this week predicted a “big fight” over confirmation, Mr. Obama said in an interview with CNBC and The New York Times that he would pick “somebody who will be confirmable” and forecast “a smooth confirmation process.” He added that he was “confident in the next couple weeks we’re going to be able to make a decision.”

(More here.)