Obama: We Need Justices that Are ‘Not Blind to History of Discrimination’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
OBAMA: "The cases that really matter are the ones where there’s ambiguity, where there’s a lack of clarity, where it requires constitutional principles being applied in a way that is true to precedent, is true to basic legal tenets, but also that understands the unique role of the court in making sure that people who are locked out of the political process, for example, are not permanently locked out, that they have some recourse, that we have justices who understand how the world works so that they are not entirely blind to the history of racial discrimination or gender discrimination or how money operates in our world. Not because that necessarily leads them to rule on a particular issue but because it means that when they’re looking at a tough case in which statute or the constitution does not provide an immediate, ready answer, that they can apply judgment grounded in how we actually live. And the ideals and principles that have made this such an extraordinary country. I want them to have lived a little and be able to see the wide spectrum of people that they’re going to be wielding this enormous power over. And so a lot of times, when I talk to the candidates for the judiciary, I spend time asking them about their families and them growing up and what were formative experiences in their minds. And in some ways, that reveals more than anything."