Obama on Criticism of Lack of Diversity in SCOTUS Pick: I Didn’t Say I Needed a ‘Black Lesbian from Skokie’

Thursday at the University of Chicago Law School during a town hall meeting, President Barack Obama mocked the criticism that his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, did not add diversity to the bench.

Obama said, “The way I thought about diversity is not to think about any single seat as, oh, I’ve got to fill this slot with this demographic but, rather, if I’ve got a broad set of nominees to make — and this is true across the board — how do I make sure that I’m intentional throughout that process? So that the talent of every American, and every potential candidate, gets a fair look. And I have confidence that if I stick to that, if I do that, if I make sure that I’m broadening the search, broadening the pool, looking at a bunch of folks, even if they’re not going through the conventional paths, that I’ll end up — the process will result in diversity. And that in fact is what’s happened. I am, you know, not to brag, but I have transformed the federal courts from a diversity standpoint with a record that’s been unmatched.”

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