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A list and always a short list. we'll talk about some of the top contender here. we have elena kagan, the solicitor general. she argues cases for the federal government in front of the supreme court. she was also one of the final candidates in last time, the court had a vacancy last year, actually, and also judge diane wood who served on the seventh circuit court of appeals in chicago, also a finalist for the last vacancy as well. she's known as a real consensus builder, similar to what justice stevens is known as as well, and then you also have judge marek garlened, known as a liberal, and in...

She's the only sitting justice that was a federal trial judge. in other words, out in the steestee street, knowing the way people think. the great thing about kagan is she is something the supreme court needs, a consensus builder. when she was a dean, richard, she was right wing, left wing, and everyone knows that. the other candidates are brilliant, but on the issue of street creds, no one can touch kagan. >> is that important? >> it's important, but it's also important she step into the shoes of justice stevens. that's more important at this time, and her views on pro-gays and pro-rights are...

Walker bush, those were the people who ran politics, government, business. he is the last one. he is the last world war ii veteran in a position of prominence. and that had an impact, his intense patriotism, his concern about the rules of war, which came through in the guantanamo cases. so i think the ideological makeup of the court will not change that much. you'll have four liberals, four conservatives. anthony kennedy in the middle. but the fact that stevens is not there will make it a different place. >> and he was also -- i know you described him this way, i think, known as a consensus bu...

Started out as a right dissenter justice and the court has gotten increasingly conservety. no one things of him as a far left. i think the president will by nature, not so much as compelled by his own politics will be hook looking to appoint someone who shares the moderate to liberal views on this. >> are there those who come to mind, who will be the top choices at this point in the running? >> a clear front-runner is alain in a kagan, her qualifications are beyond question, bipartisan support from some former reagan and george w. bush officials and she is exactly, proven in her career as dean...

>> this is really the anthony kennedy court. there has never been a justice that wields the justis that anthony kennedy wields at this moment, and i think john is exactly right. the job of the next justice will be to build bridges to anthony kennedy. who can do that? one of the curiosities of the current court is that all nine justices are former federal appeals court justices. there are no politicians. there are no law professors. there are no people who were in business. this is unusual in supreme court history. there used to be former senators, former administration officials, people who ar...