Politics

Updated May 03, 2009

Napolitano Declines to Rule Out Interest in Supreme Court Appointment

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FOXNews.com

Janet Napolitano declined to rule out being interested in an appointment to the Supreme Court when she was asked on "FOX News Sunday" about speculation that she might be on the list of potential candidates to replace outgoing Justice David Souter. 

Justice Napolitano? 

The homeland security secretary might just like the ring of it. Janet Napolitano declined to rule out being interested in an appointment to the Supreme Court when she was asked on "FOX News Sunday" about speculation that she might be on the list of potential candidates to replace outgoing Justice David Souter. 

"I've got my hands full with the flu right now, and I'm just going to stick with that," she said. 

When host Chris Wallace told Napolitano, "That's a non-answer," she replied: "That's all you're gonna get." 

She added: "I think the president has many, many excellent choices before him and that's his choice to make." 

Napolitano is the former governor and attorney general of Arizona. 

Speculation has centered on potential female justices, since only one woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is on the Supreme Court. 

Sonia Sotomayor, judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, and Elena Kagan, solicitor general and former Harvard Law School dean, among others, are considered possible picks. 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., told ABC's "This Week" that he personally would like to see more women on the court. 

"Having only one woman on the Supreme Court does not reflect the makeup of the United States," he said Sunday. "I think we should have more women, we should have more minorities."

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