Judge could be Supreme Court contender (Diane Wood)

Judge Diane Pamela Wood, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Nominated by William J. Clinton on March 31, 1995
Born July 4, 1950 (age 59)


WASHINGTON — She was introduced Tuesday as a woman who could be the next Supreme Court justice "if the stars align" and liberals prevail.

Then in a wide-ranging yet restrained talk hosted by the left-leaning American Constitution Society, Appeals Court Judge Diane Wood, whom President Obama interviewed for last year's Supreme Court opening, shared her experiences with law.

In response to a question, Wood recalled the 1990s, when she was one of two women on the 11-member, Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. She said some lawyers had "a little trouble" with their being on the bench, and she referred to an attorney in a pregnancy-bias case who minimized pregnancy. "After all," she recalled him saying, after the baby is delivered, a woman returns to "her usual slim self."

Wood said she admonished the lawyer that she, the mother of three, probably knew more about pregnancy than he did and told him, "There's a little more to it than that."

Wood, Solicitor General Elena Kagan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano would be top contenders for a Supreme Court vacancy, based on their backgrounds and the fact that Obama interviewed them before choosing Sonia Sotomayor last year for his first Supreme Court opening.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20100324/court24_st.art.htm