UPDATES & ANALYSIS

4.19

Iowa Federal Judge Listed As Potential Supreme Court Nominee in Romney Administration

by Ryan Koopmans | April 19, 2012

By Ryan Koopmans

Today, Reuters reporter David Ingram asks: Who would President Romney nominate to the Supreme Court?  Based on his conversations with lawyers in the know, Ingram ticks off ten possibilities, and that list includes Eighth Circuit Judge, and Iowa native, Steven Colloton.  Judge Colloton–a former clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist–was appointed to the federal appeals court that covers Iowa in 2003.  Before that, he served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa.

Coincidentally, the man that would shepherd any Supreme Court nominee through the Senate under a Romney administration would be Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.  Senator Grassley is currently the ranking member in the Senate Judiciary Committee and, depending on the outcome of the November elections, could be chairman come 2013.

Others on the “short list” include former Solicitor General Paul Clement (who recently argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of Iowa and 25 other states on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act), D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Seventh Circuit Judge Diane Sykes, and D.C. lawyer Miguel Estrada.  The full article is here.

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