With word that Supreme Court Justice David Souter will soon retire, so begins SupremeStakes 2009 (frenzied press speculation of the Who The Nominee Will/Should Be and When The Nomination Will Happen variety).

An early favorite in the genre comes from The Fox Nation, which, having apparently procured The Final and Complete Persons Being Considered List asks its readers today (h/t, County Fair):

Why aren’t white males being considered for Supreme Court?”

Surely someone, somewhere is “considering” “white males?” Won’t someone consider the white male?

Oh, here we go. Fox News’s on-screen graphic today of “possible Souter replacements” (Fox News having, apparently, received a slightly different List of Persons Being Considered than The Fox Nation):

And, a favorite from the last go-around, SupremeStakes 2005: When CNN, to illustrate a speculation-filled report of the maybe President Bush will announce a Hispanic nominee variety, ran file footage of… a mariachi band.

UPDATE: SupremeStakes, of course, also involves Cases For/Against Persons On The Persons Being Considered List. Matt Yglesias finds an early example and calls attention to its journalistic shortcomings.