President Obama to Announce His Supreme Court Nominee Monday

WASHINGTON, May 9, 2010— -- President Obama has decided who he will nominate to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens and is expected to make the decision public Monday, ABC News has learned.

Obama has met personally with several of the top contenders. Additionally, Obama, also a lawyer, reviewed their legal writings, their speeches and their briefs, among any number of other considerations, as he and his top advisors weighed his decision.

There are at least 10 names that have been reported to be on the White House's short list, including current Solicitor General Elena Kagan, the former dean of Harvard Law School, Judge Merrick Garland, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, and Judge Diane Wood of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The main things Obama said he was looking for are fidelity to the law and the Constitution, he told CNBC, adding that he is looking for "somebody who has the kind of life experience so they understand how their decisions are impacting ordinary people."

Obama cited "life experience" in 2009 as he weighed his options before nominating Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court.

But when Obama states that criteria this time, does he mean he might consider someone with experience outside the judiciary?

Right now, for the first time in history, every member of the Supreme Court is a former appellate judge, coming from what Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vermont, calls the "judicial monastery."

The president and his team were said to be taking any number of factors into consideration and some commentators, including former President Bill Clinton, were pushing Obama to consider someone who is not a judge.

"Some of the best justices in the Supreme Court in history have been non-judges, people that, as Hugo Black once famously said, had been sheriffs and county judges, people that have seen how the lofty decisions of the Supreme Court affect the ordinary lives of Americans," Clinton said. "I hope he'll take a look at somebody who hasn't been a judge."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said after a meeting with President Obama last month at the White House that he supported his going in that direction.

"I hope that we would have someone who is not a circuit court judge," Reid said. "I personally feel it should be someone who is an academic, someone who has had a public office, someone who is an outstanding lawyer. And the president said that he will take that into consideration."