Despite the hopes of
LGBT activists, a leaked short list of potential Supreme Court
nominees does not contain the names of any out lesbians.
The list, which
MSNBC's
First Read
published on Monday and attributed to a "couple of sources in
the know," contains the following six names: Judge Diane Wood
of the U.S. court of appeals for the 7th circuit; Solicitor
General Elena Kagan; Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. court of
appeals for the 2nd circuit; Michigan governor Jennifer
Granholm; Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet
Napolitano; and Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. court of
appeals for the D.C. circuit.
Since Supreme Court
Justice David Souter announced on May 1 that he would retire at
the end of the court's current term, LGBT activists have hailed
the public discussion of two out lesbians, former Stanford Law
School dean Kathleen Sullivan and fellow Stanford law professor
Pamela Karlan, as potential nominees. Hopes were especially
strong given the disappointment from some quarters that
President Obama, who will select the Supreme Court
nominee, did not pick any openly gay people to serve in his
cabinet.
Napolitano has long
been the subject of gay rumors, despite publicly declaring in
2002 that she is not gay.
Kagan is not out,
though several blogs have suggested she has a female partner
and that her sexual orientation is an "open
secret" at Harvard Law School.
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