Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said today that Obama should pick someone with experience as a judge to be his Supreme Court nominee.
“Judicial experience is a very valuable thing,” Sessions told the Wall Street Journal. He added that he’d like a nominee with “significant courtroom experience” and who has “won respect of colleagues and judges. That’s what you do on the court.”
Obama is reportedly considering at least two non-Judges–Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D)–for the nation’s highest court. Both Napolitano and Granhold are lawyers who have served as Attorneys General of their respective states.
Sessions’ comments seem to suggest he values judicial experience over political or law enforcement posts.
“There are a lot of people who have experience in the world,” Sessions said, “but I wouldn’t think they would be a Supreme Court justice.”