President Barack Obama takes exception to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's assessment of his political weakness in getting another liberal justice confirmed by what could very well be a GOP-controlled Senate.
In an interview with
The New Yorker, the president claims "the Senate necessarily has to treat the Supreme Court nomination process differently than the circuit- or district-court nomination process."
"[H]igher profile, people are paying attention," he said.
Obama's response comes after Ginsburg
told Elle magazine in a Sept. 23 interview that if she was to "resign any time this year, he could not successfully appoint anyone I would like to see in the court."
"[The Senate Democrats] took off the filibuster for lower federal court appointments, but it remains for this court," she said. "So anybody who thinks that if I step down, Obama could appoint someone like me, they’re misguided. As long as I can do the job full steam… I think I’ll recognize when the time comes that I can’t any longer. But now I can."
But Obama staunchly defended his "good track record" on high court appointments.
"We’ve got a couple of Supreme Court Justices confirmed who I think are doing outstanding work," he said, referring to his appointments of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.
When it comes to the Supreme Court, he told The New Yorker, "they have the sense 'All right, this is big,'" noting media attention as well "means that some of the shenanigans that were taking place in terms of blocking appointments, stalling appointments, I think are more difficult to pull off during a Supreme Court nomination process."
"Having said that," he added, "Justice Ginsburg is doing a wonderful job. She is one of my favorite people. Life tenure means she gets to decide, not anybody else, when she chooses to go."
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