NOW ready to work for woman SCOTUS nominee

Here is another sign that interest groups are ready to lobby President Obama on who he nominates for retiring Justice David Souter’s seat on the Supreme Court. National Organization for Women president Kim Gandy just told the BBR that her membership is ready to push for a woman to be nominated.

Gandy also said NOW will be a force in the confirmation process if Obama does select a woman.

“There is no question that NOW members will be extremely active in in both making requests to President Obama that he names a progressive to the court and also in helping with confirmation,” she said.

Gandy said there are hundreds of thousands of members across the country who are willing to pressure their home state senators to support the nominee.

So far, the political pressure Obama will likely face from Hispanic and women groups has been dominating story lines following the news surrounding Souter’s retirement. That has led most of the discussion to focus on Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who checks both of those boxes.

Gandy also noted that if Obama does not pick a woman, the group won’t go to work.

“You don’t have to look at too many pictures of the Supreme Court to see the lone woman, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is in need of company,” Gandy said.

Gandy went so far as to say that having only one woman justice is an “embarassment” for the country.

NOW also lobbied President George W. Bush when he made nominations to the court, Gandy said. In particular, when Sandra Day O’Connor stepped down in 2006, NOW put a lot of pressure on the White House to appoint a woman. When Bush opted for Justice Samuel Alito, Gandy said, “there was a tremendous amount of disappointment.”

jeremy.jacobs@digital-stage.thehill.com