The Washington Post has details on how President Obama will pick a new Supreme Court nominee.
"The
selection of a small and very senior group of administration officials
to help manage the nomination is designed, in part, to avoid the kinds
of leaks that angered several Cabinet nominees during Obama's
transition.... Running the selection are White House Chief of
Staff Rahm Emanuel, counsel Gregory B. Craig and deputy counsel
Cassandra Q. Butts, a classmate of Obama's at Harvard Law."
CQ Politics notes that in timing his pick, President Obama "is balancing competing
political imperatives: waiting long enough that key senators in both
parties feel that he seriously entertained their suggestions, but not
so long he gives his conservative critics the opportunity to mobilize."