Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says she finds talk that she could be President Obama’s selection to the high court “flattering” but doesn’t give any indication that she’s about to leave her agency anytime soon.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox’s Mike Levine, Napolitano said “It is flattering to be mentioned in connection with the Supreme Court of the United States, but as this interview already reveals, I am pretty focused on the big job I have.”
Napolitano’s comments are consistent with what she told reporters in Boston last week. “I’m flattered but I am focused on the job that I’ve got. It’s a big job and it requires all of my attention,” she said at Logan Airport during an event displaying new explosives detection devices.
Napolitano, a former federal prosecutor in Arizona before becoming that state’s governor, was on Obama’s short list last year to replace now retired Justice David Souter. The nod eventually went to Sonia Sotomayor who was confirmed by the Senate in August.
Napolitano is believed to be under consideration again and appeals to some Court observers who would see her addition to the high court as a welcome change of pace. Unlike the other justices on the bench, Napolitano has never served as a federal appellate judge and unlike the other eight justices she could sit with who each hold Ivy League law degrees, Napolitano earned one at the University of Virginia.