Last Wednesday The Hill reported that President Obama will decide on a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Stevens by May 26 at the latest. That same day, Obama met with Senate leaders from both major parties to discuss the upcoming confirmation process. Among other factors in his decision, the President has said he will choose a candidate based on that person’s attention to the rights of women and the privacy of women’s bodies. Careful not to commit himself to a specific policy, Obama also said he would not impose an abortion “litmus test.”

Included in Wednesday’s Oval Office meeting were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont and committee ranking Republican Jeff Sessions of Alabama. While Senators McConnell and Sessions promised to give Obama’s candidate a fair hearing, the two conservatives said Republicans would reject any nominee with preconceived intentions. Senator Reid stressed the possibility of electing someone outside the judiciary community, possibly an academic like Elana Kagan, or another exceptional attorney.

Given Obama’s focus on women’s constitutional rights as the swing factor in this nomination, it’s entirely likely that he’ll pick a potential female nominee that lost out to Justice Sotomayor last spring. Potential favorites among political pundits include US Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood and private attorney Leah Ward Sears. Wood, unanimously confirmed to the Seventh Circuit in Chicago in 1995, was Obama’s first interviewee after Justice Souter announced his retirement. While her liberal record on issues like abortion makes her an ideal contender for this contest, some conservative opponents have attacked her for flouting previous Supreme Court rulings in her zeal for individual rights. This contentious background could result in a confirmation hearing far more controversial than last summer’s.

Sears, the first woman and youngest person ever nominated to the Georgia Supreme Court, could appeal to the black community, which feels out of touch with the Court’s sole black justice, Clarence Thomas. Sears’s record of overturning anti-sodomy laws and condemnation of the electric chair as cruel and unusual punishment will win her votes with liberals just as her close connections with Thomas, which could be seen by the black community as a sign of more disconnected leadership, could help win conservative votes as well.