Who would Kerry nominate to the SCOTUS if he won in 2004?

[darklordoftech]

He’d have a GOP Senate.

[President Johnson]

Probably a decent junk of people from this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_Supreme_Court_candidates

[Skill and Chance]

Hmmm... that was tied for the biggest Republican majority in the modern era (though there were 2 Republican wins that were close enough they might well have gone the other way if you assume a uniform swing big enough to give Kerry the EC).   I think his best bet to get someone through would be to pick a very moderate Republican appointed circuit or state supreme court judge.  He would be looking for Souter 2.0.

[brucejoel99]

Presumably the likes of Sotomayor, Ed Prado, & Ricardo Hinojosa, since they were the candidates whom Senate Democrats recommended to W. for the O'Connor vacancy.

[dw93]

Someone similar to Garland likely replaces Rehnquist. Kerry's hand would be freer with replacements for Stevens or Souter (I think they'd retire earlier if Kerry were elected in 2004). With O'Connor there's no guarantee that she'd still retire with Kerry as President. Kerry still gets at least two nominations though IMHO.

[brucejoel99]

Someone similar to Garland likely replaces Rehnquist. Kerry's hand would be freer with replacements for Stevens or Souter (I think they'd retire earlier if Kerry were elected in 2004). With O'Connor there's no guarantee that she'd still retire with Kerry as President. Kerry still gets at least two nominations though IMHO.

She only retired to take care of her husband so she likely would've still retired.

[Kingpoleon]

Amy Gutman, President of the University of Pennsylvania(b. 1949, age ~57)
David Schizer, Dean of Columbia Law(b. 1968, age ~38)
Richard Revesz, Dean of NYU Law(b. 1958, age ~48)
Kathleen M. O’Malley, Federal Judge for Ohio’s Northern District(b. 1956, age ~50)
Susan Oki Mollsay, Judge for Hawaii’s District(b. 1950, age ~56)
Faith Hochberg, Judge for New Jersey’s District(b. 1950, age ~56)
Kent Syverud, Dean of Vanderbilt/Washington Law(b. ~1955, age ~51)
Leah Ward Sears, Chief Justice of George(b. 1955, age ~51)

Diane Wood, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan are obviously other big names. Vanessa Gilmore would  probably be the youngest possible actual Judge who could be appointed.