[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/14/intv.dershowitz.art.jpg caption= "Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz tells CNN's Kiran Chetry the Supreme Court should not be gender-balanced."]
Senate leaders who met with President Obama Wednesday said the president told them he’ll name his Supreme Court nominee soon. CNN is learning that the field has now been narrowed to about a half dozen names. Most of the people on the list are women.
Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz says it would be a mistake for President Obama to say the seat on the court belongs only to a woman. He spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Thursday.
Alan Dershowitz: It's a superb list. Elena Kagan is my former dean and a friend. I’ve argued cases in front of Judge Sotomayor and I know the others on the list. It's a very, very good list. My concern is this – the impression is being created, perhaps it's a false impression, that what President Obama has done is said bring me a list of women, Latinos and I'll pick from that the most qualified people. That can create a very bad starting point for any justice. They're not on the court as representatives of a particular gender or ethnicity. They are there because they are supposed to be the greatest legal minds in the country capable of dealing with some of the most complex issues. So I hope he picks the most qualified people. Among the most qualified people, obviously, are very distinguished women and Latinos and Asians and others of diverse backgrounds.
Kiran Chetry: If you look at the court it is dominated by white men. Is the court supposed to represent the country's population? And maybe it is or maybe it isn't, but half of the country is made up of females. Don't you think it's in the interest or responsibility of the president to try to bring some gender balance to the court?
Dershowitz: No. I don't think balance is the appropriate function of the Supreme Court. If you were looking at who should be represented on the court, there is only one white Protestant on the entire court and this is a country primarily of white Protestants. We don't want to see the court divided into kind of representative justices the way we have representative congress people and senators. I think that's the wrong approach to the court. You have a president like Obama who is, clearly, color blind and gender blind. We trust him, I think, to pick the best people. He is not going to be accused of in any way engaging in prejudice. Let him pick the best person. It’s very likely that best person might very well be a woman or a person of Latino background but I think it's a mistake for him to set out in advance to say I want only a woman, this is a woman's seat on the court.
Chetry: Let's talk about some of the women or some of the potential justices or candidates here. Let's talk about Sonia Sotomayor. She’s a federal Appeals Court justice. Republicans are already sending out some warnings about her about a past statement she made where she said, “Court of Appeals is where policy is made.” Some concerns about those comments. What do you think?
Dershowitz: Well, of course, policy is made in every court. People who criticize judges who make policy don't like the particular policies they're making. Judicial policies are made by the court whether to accept an exclusionary rule, whether to support Affirmative Action. Courts are very important in our country and they do make policies. In fact, the Supreme Court really makes the policies, Court of Appeals implement the policies of the Supreme Court. But that surely is not a disqualifying statement.
Chetry: How about Elena Kagan?
Dershowitz: She’s a terrific woman. She was a great dean at the Harvard Law School. She brought people together. She has the ability really to work with people of every background and every view. She would have the intellectual horsepower to take on Justice Scalia or some of the others. She was a great dean at the law school. We miss her and she would be a great justice, I think.
Chetry: Some of the other ones on the list are federal Appeals Court Justice Diane Wood, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm.
Dershowitz: An excellent list.