harold koh to state dep't; supreme court up next?

Though those who have known him in other contexts have some legitimate critiques, I've only known of and seen Yale Law School Dean Harold Hongju Koh in the context of his advocacy for human rights, particularly the United States' responsibility to comply with international human rights law, both abroad and at home. I wrote about his smackdown of Originalists' rejection of international law last year.

So welcome news this week that Dean Koh has officially been nominated as the State Department's top attorney, the official title being, I believe, State Department Legal Adviser. An innocuous name for a very influential position, one where Koh will be able to reform many of those policies and practices that he critiqued during the Bush Administrations.

Also interesting is the speculation that Koh is under consideration for a Supreme Court vacancy, if and when one should appear. As noted in the NYT:

Earlier this year, when the Supreme Court announced that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was suffering from early-stage pancreatic cancer and speculation rose about a possible vacancy on the high court, Mr. Koh’s name was among those mentioned as a possible candidate.

Again, not sure about Koh's overall legal views, but he'd certainly be a champion for greater consideration of international law in our domestic jurisprudence. This is, after all, a guy who said:

Human rights is not marginal to who we are; human rights defines who we are. The United States is a country defined by human rights. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all persons are created equal’…. What I’m saying is, it is not that human rights are as American as apple pie. Apple pie was founded, as far as I know, in Bavaria. Apple pie would be as lucky to be as American as human rights.

It also goes without saying that Koh would be the first Asian American Supreme Court Justice, should that vast series of improbable events all come together.