PRESIDENT BARACK Obama's Supreme Court nominee is the question up for debate right now, as he goes through four candidates for his nod. Age and maintainance of the balance of power in the court set up will be important factors for him to consider, who will be picked as the replacement for retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

The consideration on who President Obama could choose for the job, has been split up among the debate for the soon to be empty spot on the bench on several factors, like age, the balance of power in the court, political stance of the candidate, need to diversify the bench, regional balance and the like. There is also the question how much political capital will he be willing to spend on his candidate choice.

First age wise, Elena Kagen is the youngest candidate among the four and had celebrated her 50th birthday in late April. The age mark is not just about choosing a young candidate - its about choosing one who will last longer or may be least likely to disrupt the balance of power on the court bench.

Keeping age as a specification is a formula that has been used by many recent republican Presidents. Obama's predecessor George Bush had chosen John Paul Roberts because he was the youngest among those he had considered for the US Supreme Court. Similarly, his father, former President Bush Sr had chosen Clarence Thomas for the same reason too.

Next, the balance of power at the court and a candidate's political leanings. It is believed that Obama's choice may be a moderate, slightly left of centre candidate. Obama has avoided choosing liberal stalwarts for the bench till now, meaning that the liberal Roberts may not be replaced by another liberal. So, here one with moderate leanings may count too, especially if the candidate can also work well with conservative elements.

Further, the amount of political capital that Obama would be willing to expend for the candidate could count too. Either Obama would choose a choice likely to be okayed by most in the senate, thus expending little political capital in getting his choice okayed or he could go for a full vote. The Healthcare Reform, an earlier full vote had been a tough battle for the Obama administration and a choice who may be tough to please all quarters, may become an even harder battle.

Diversification could also count, as this would mean that his choice could be cut further to the two women candidates out of the four - Elena Kagan and Diane Wood. He could also choose to bring in one of the four on counts of beliefs - a Jewish over Protestant choices. Here, Wood and Sidney Thomas as protestants would be on the outs, while Merrick Garland and Elena Kagen are Jewish.