Gov. Linda Lingle is asking for public comment on six potential state Supreme Court nominees, two women and four men.

    All of the nominees are either now on the bench or have been state judges.

The six names were sent to Lingle by the state Judicial Selection Commission. They include three members of the Intermediate Court of Appeals.

The person nominated will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Justice Steven Levinson. The nominee will need to be confirmed by the state Senate. Senate President Colleen Hanabusa said yesterday she knows all of them and thinks they all are qualified.

“;In terms of qualifications, they all have good legal minds and certainly fit the qualifications,”; Hanabusa said. “;It is a good list.”;

The nominees are:

» Daniel Foley, 61, Intermediate Appeals Court associate judge, formerly a private attorney and ACLU legal director.

» Craig Nakamura, 52, Intermediate Appeals Court associate judge, formerly an assistant U.S. attorney and a law professor.

» Mark Recktenwald, 53, Intermediate Appeals Court chief judge, who was director of the state Commerce and Consumer Affairs Department, an assistant U.S. attorney and an attorney.

» Sabrina McKenna, 51, a state circuit judge who used to be a district judge, and a law school assistant professor and a private attorney.

» Frances Q.F. Wong, 57, a state circuit judge, formerly a Family Court district judge and an attorney in private practice.

» Steven Nakashima, 54, a former district judge now an attorney with Marr, Hipp, Jones and Pepper.

Hanabusa predicted Lingle would carefully consider nominating either Recktenwald or Nakamura because of their past experience as a prosecutor and Lingle's often-stated concern that the Hawaii bench has more defense lawyers than prosecutors.

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