WP: Possible Court Pick Is Used to Dueling on Bench

[usregimechange]

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 16, 2009


Judge Diane P. Wood has served as an appellate judge since 1995. (By Lloyd Degrane -- University Of Chicago Via Ap)


CHICAGO -- The verbal sparring began quickly. Less than two minutes into the lawyer's argument, U.S. Appeals Court Judge Diane P. Wood launched the first question. A Chicago condominium board had repeatedly removed a mezuzah from a Jewish resident's door frame, and Wood viewed it as a violation of religious freedom.

To her right, Judge Frank H. Easterbrook disagreed. Firing his own questions, he suggested that the dispute over the small case containing Torah verses was rooted in nothing more than a condo association's effort to eliminate hallway clutter. Back and forth they went during oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. It was a familiar dance, joined energetically by Judge Richard A. Posner, who most often aligns with his fellow Reagan appointee Easterbrook.

Wood's 14 years alongside Posner and Easterbrook, who often serve together as a panel of the circuit court, are being studied afresh as President Obama prepares to make his first nomination to the Supreme Court. Wood, described by associates as smart, progressive, steadfast and collegial, is a onetime colleague of Obama's at the University of Chicago and is considered by many to be on the shortlist of potential replacements for retiring Justice David H. Souter.

Wood knows what it is like to duel two of the most formidable and prolific conservative jurists in the country, a key element of Obama's search as he tries to shift the dynamic of a court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Antonin Scalia.

"She's as bright as Posner and Easterbrook and really holds her own, and I think she would hold her own with the great intellects on the high court as well," said Chicago lawyer Fay Clayton, who has argued many 7th Circuit cases. "Everything she does is based on precedent and statutory construction and the facts."

More
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/15/AR2009051503402.html

[usregimechange]

1. Wow, I wish she were younger because this gal is as sharp as a tack

Did you guys read the entire article?

[Phx_Dem]

2. Just finished it. She sounds like she'd make a stellar Supreme. But,

do you know what happened with the mezzuzah case? How can a sane person call a 2-inch mezzuzah that is mounted on your door frame or next to your door, "hallway clutter?" I'm no legal expert, but I would say that is absolutely a violation of religious freedom. It blesses the home and most Jews have one mounted outside their doors.

I like her!

[usregimechange]

3. An en banc panel of the Seventh Circuit court is now hearing the case, orals 3 days ago

Panel decision including Wood's lengthy dissent:
http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/NJ1FG0IG.pdf

And the oral arguments of the 3 judge panel and en banc panel here:
http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/fdocs/docs.fwx?caseno=06-3376&submit=showdkt

[Phx_Dem]

4. Thanks!