Another View: The best nominee? Surprise us

By the end of the week, we'll probably know who President Barack Obama plans to nominate as retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter's successor. With all respect to the crack economic team the president has working overtime to keep as many of us as possible off the unemployment rolls and our 401(k)s off the do-not-resuscitate list, this will be the most important appointment he has made so far. Because he swept to electoral victory on the promise of fundamental change, I would urge him to break with the recent past and nominate someone from outside the federal judiciary, perhaps even someone who is not now a sitting judge.