title:  Top SCOTUS Insider Knows The ‘Most Likely’ Choice To Replace Scalia
text: Conservatives are busy mourning the death of Antonin Scalia, and coming up with ways to make sure that no one President Obama picks will make it through to the court. Well, if they are angry and scheming right now, this next prediction will have the right positively fuming.According to NBC News, Tom Goldstein, the Supreme Court expert who is the mastermind behind SCOTUSblog, is predicting that President Obama will nominate current Attorney General Loretta Lynch to replace the recently deceased Scalia. Calling Lynch a  very serious possibility,  Goldstein went on to say: The fact that Lynch was vetted so recently for attorney general also makes it practical for the president to nominate her in relatively short order. Goldstein s predictions are in sharp contrast to those of Robert Reich, who believes that the pick would be Judge Sri Srinivasan, who has been nominated to a lower Court of Appeals by President Obama. However, it seems that Goldstein s prediction makes much more sense, both practically and politically.This nomination could be a political windfall for the left, and a disaster for the right. With so many Republicans vowing to refuse to allow any of Obama s nominees onto the court, their image problem when it comes to race will not be helped if they refuse to confirm Lynch. After all, she would be the first black woman to make it to the Supreme Court, and they would look like a bunch of racists and misogynists. Further, according to Goldstein, Lynch s history as a career prosecutor makes it very difficult to paint her as excessively liberal. Essentially, a Loretta Lynch nomination does everything the left needs it to do, and completely paints the GOP obstructionists into a corner. They already have serious problems with racial minorities, and with the way they treated the Loretta Lynch confirmation for the position of Attorney General, they can t afford to treat her badly again. People already called that racism and misogyny out for what it was, and if they want to maintain any kind of semblance of respect when it comes to race issues and minority communities, they will not block Lynch a second time. Goldstein s points on the issues a Lynch nomination poses for the GOP were nothing short of perfect: I think the administration would relish the prospect of Republicans either refusing to give Lynch a vote or seeming to treat her unfairly in the confirmation process. Either eventuality would motivate both black and women voters. Oh, I surely hope that this is true. Talk about a great way for President Obama to stick it to the GOP on his way out.Featured image from White House Flickr