President Obama's short list for his Supreme Court pick consisted of four women: Solicitor General Elana Kagan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, US Court of Appeals judge Diane Wood, and the eventual selection, Sonia Sotomayor. By Friday, Obama thought he was ready to make the pick, but decided to take the weekend to make sure he was certain, insiders tell the Huffington Post.
The president knew three of the candidates personally, having worked with Wood and appointed Kagan and Napolitano. He met with Sotomayor for an hour on Thursday, as part of the judge’s secret seven-hour visit to the White House. The administration went through a thorough vetting process on all four candidates—which presumably means Sotomayor is current on her tax payments. (More Sonia Sotomayor stories.)