Who do you want to be appointed to the Supreme Court?

Since Justice Scalia died on Saturday, every pundit and her grandmother has suggested a short list of possible replacements to fill the now empty seat at the Supreme Court. Sri Srinivasan, Jane Kelly, Paul Watford, and Patricia Millett — four federal appellate judges — are the names I’ve heard most frequently floated. Srinivasan is the crowd favorite because he’s probably the most likely to be confirmed: he’s a moderate, he’s mostly kept his mouth shut on anything controversial, and was confirmed 97-0 to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013.

As we all geek out on predictions, I wanted to take a moment to ask a different question: who do we want to be the next Supreme Court Justice? If we could shed all political constraints, who would be our pick to decide legal questions of great national importance? Maybe that sounds like a fruitless discussion to some. But I think it’s so important in moments of political compromise to remember our core commitments–to remember the difference between what we really want and what we feel is strategic to demand.

I posed that question to some law school friends and, of course, Twitter. Their responses are below. Add your dream nominations in the comments.

Vanita Gupta: Gupta is the acting associate attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. She’s previously worked at the ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, specializing in criminal justice reform.

Leondra Kruger: Kruger was confirmed to the Supreme Court of California at just 38. Although she was one of the youngest state justices ever appointed, Justice Kruger came to the bench with years of experience as a lawyer for the U.S. government, including in the Solicitor General’s office and the Office of Legal Counsel.

Pam Karlan: This Stanford Law professor famously wrote Justice Blackum’s dissent in Bowers v. Hardwick, the 1986 case in which the Supreme Court OKed a George law criminalizing “homosexual sodomy.” (Don’t worry, that’s bad law now.) She’s openly bisexual and, according to law school lore, made a conscious decision as a young lawyer to speak her mind rather than gun for a seat on the Court.

Myron Thompson: Judge Thompson is a senior judge of the federal district court for the middle district of Alabama. He’s been a progressive champion on issues including prison abuse and abortion access. At the time of his appointment, Judge Thompson was only 33 — and the first black state employee in Alabama who wasn’t a janitor or a teacher.

Anita Hill: You know, you may have heard of her. Hill famously worked at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and, since then, has worked as a law professor and civil rights attorney. If you’d love to see Justice Hill, there’s a Change.org petition in circulation. I would love to see Clarence Thomas’s face…

Robin West: West is a feminist law professor at Georgetown. She is well known for her critiques of liberal, macho ideas of autonomy that devalue and ignore interdependences. Among other formative texts, her book Progressive Constitutionalism pushes us to a richer, more substantive understanding of the Constitution’s commitment to equality.

Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar: The Daily Beast called this California Supreme Court justice the most qualified person for the job and “the GOP’s worst nightmare.” Justice Cuellar was born in Mexico and has a scarily impressive resume, including degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Stanford and experience working for the Obama administration on a range of progressive issues including equal pay and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Elizabeth Warren: Senator Warren, a former Harvard Law professor, is known for her fierce, clear progressive voice. And if you to see Citizens United overturned, there’s no safer bet than Justice Warren.

Goodwin Liu: A justice on the Supreme Court of California, Liu is one of the more realistic names on this list, but he’s still a long-shot. The former RBG clerk was nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2010, but Republicans were not pleased by his progressive scholarship–which tells you much about why he might be such an appealing pick.

Nina Pillard: With a Democratic Senate, Judge Pillard would be an obvious pick for SCOTUS. Widely hailed as the “next RBG,” Pillard argued nine cases before the Supreme Court before she was appointed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Most famously, she successfully defended the Family Medical Leave Act in a 2003 challenge.

Stephen Bright: Professor Bright is pretty much a saint. He’s the president of the Southern Center for Human Rights and a tireless, self-sacrificing advocate for indigent people facing the death penalty. The only downside to a Justice Bright would be gap in literally life-saving services left in his wake.

Barack Obama: SCOTUS POTUS.

If politics were no obstacle, who would be your pick for the Supreme Court?