Solicitor General Elena Kagan before the U.S. Supreme Court last
September, arguing on the (ultimately losing) side of democracy
in Citizens United v. F.E.C.

Now that we know for sure that we're losing Justice John Paul Stevens, the best ally any thinking and open-minded American has on the Supreme Court (and someone who really knows how to wear a bow tie), we might as well discuss President Obama's list of potential replacements. My money's behind presumptive front-runner Elena Kagan, the current Solicitor General (first woman to hold that office, incidentally) and former Dean of Harvard Law School. Kagan is probably not progressives' first choice — as Tom Goldstein notes, 7th Circuit Judge Diane Wood is more appealing on that score — but she is a confirmable bad-ass with the skills of persuasion necessary to get Justice Kennedy to vote on the correct side once in a while. Personally, my decision was made after reading that Justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom Kagan clerked following law school, nicknamed her "Shorty." Case closed.

K.P. and Envyi, "Swing my Way"

P.S. Happy Belated Birthday to Justice Stevens, who turned 90 this past Tuesday.