Looking (a bit too hard) for problems for SCOTUS short listers

I am a bit disappointed, though not really surprised, by this new Slate piece from Emily Bazelon, titled “Future Dangerousness: The tricky sex offender case that could trip up one of the judges on the short list to replace Souter.”   The piece is focused on Judge Diane Wood and examines a 2004 case from the Seventh Circuit, Doe v. City of Lafayette, in which Judge Wood voted in favor of a sex offender — first as the swing vote in a split panel and then as a dissenter after the case was reviewed en banc.

I have no problems closely examining significant opinions authored by judges who are possible SCOTUS nominees (though I wish the media would focus a lot more on possible candidates others than circuit judges).  But in this 2004 Doe case, Judge Wood merely cast a vote, she did not even write an opinion. 

If Judge Wood (or any judge) gets tapped for the top court, all votes in all cases seem to be fair game for analysis and criticisms.  But, only days after Justice Souter announced his retirement, it seems a bit too early to be looking so hard for problems in the voting records of well-regarded experienced jurists — jurists who, if they are doing their jobs right, will have sometimes concluded that the law called for a ruling that might not win majority approval by voters.