Another Progressive Makes Obama's Short List

Meredith Jessup | April 12, 2010 12:11 PM

Just as Senate Republicans are warning President Obama that they will vehemently oppose any candidate he nominates to the Supreme Court who is deemed "too liberal," the White House is

confirming the addition of another candidate to the president's short list: former Georgia Supreme Court chief justice Leah Ward Sears.

Sears, the first female African-American chief justice in U.S. history, joined the state's supreme court in 1992 and stepped down last year. She currently practices law privately at Schiff Hardin.

It's rumored that Sears was on the president's short list last year, however her well-known ideological leanings should give Republicans pause if her name comes up as Obama's nominee. Sears is a member of the left-leaning American Constitution Society--a small organization of liberal progressives specifically founded to combat conservative judicial philosophy and funded by large contributions from groups like the Streisand Foundation (Babs' baby) and the Open Society Institute (George Soros' baby).

The group's Mission Statement states that “[i]n recent years, an activist conservative legal movement has gained influence—eroding [the] enduring values” of “individual rights and liberties, genuine equality, access to justice, democracy and the rule of law.” While condemning what it calls “judicial activism” by conservative judges, ACS encourages judicial activism by the left. These progressive strongly believe in "evolving" the original principles of America's founding through a "living" Constitution. These views used to be controversial, but Obama is increasingly bringing them into the American mainstream.
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The ACS was little-known before Barack Obama became president. Since taking office, Obama has recruited a number of ACS members to fill various political appointments:

Attorney General Eric Holder sat on the ACS board before taking his position at the head of the Justice Department.

ACS Board chairman Goodwin Liu has been nominated by President Obama for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Board member Lisa Blue-Baron, with husband Fred Baron (the guy who paid off John Edwards' mistress to keep the story of their affair silent), has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DNC and hosted fundraisers for Obama.

Former ACS Staffer and Executive Vice President for Policy of Soros' Center for American Progress Melody Barnes is now director of Obama's Domestic Policy Council.

ACS Executive Director Lisa Brown was tapped to serve as the president's staff secretary.

Board member and Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnson was Obama's choice to serve as Assistant Attorney General, but withdrew her nomination earlier this month.

Former board member Ronald Klain serves as chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden.

Board member Teresa Wynn Roseborough's name was circulated during the early days of the Obama administration as a potential Solicitor General, a position now held by another short list nominee Elena Kagen.