Transcript: Arlen Specter on Meet the Press – Supreme Court & Party Switching
(Source: NBC’s Meet the Press)
MR. GREGORY: We are back, and joining us live now from Philadelphia, the Senate’s newest Democrat, Arlen Specter.
Senator, welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.
SEN. SPECTER: Thank you, David. Nice to be with you.
MR. GREGORY: Thank you. Your decision–or since your decision there’s been some pretty big news. We’ll get to the reasons for your decision in just a moment. But I want to talk about the retirement of Justice Souter and the vacancy to the Supreme Court that President Obama will now fill. You have a fair amount of experience with this as the former Judiciary chairman, and you might return to that post even as a Democrat. So what kind of justice should President Obama be looking for?
SEN. SPECTER: He should be looking for someone with a strong academic and professional background. It would be my hope that he would choose someone with diversity. Women are underrepresented on the court. We don’t have an Hispanic. African-Americans are underrepresented. I would hope that he would look beyond the circuit courts of appeals which now populate the Supreme Court and pick someone with greater world experience and diversity.
Transcript: President Obama Remarks on Souter Retirement, from White House Briefing
(Source: White House Press Office)
THE PRESIDENT: Hey. I’m sorry, but Gibbs is screwing this thing up. You know, there’s a job to do — please, everybody, have a seat. There’s a job to do, you got to do it yourself. (Laughter.)
MR. GIBBS: See you guys later. Have a good weekend. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: This is kind of cool.
MR. GIBBS: It’s way cooler than it seems. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Absolutely.
The reason I’m interrupting Robert is not because he’s not doing a good job — he’s doing an unbelievable job. But it’s because I just got off the telephone with Justice Souter. And so I would like to say a few words about his decision to retire from the Supreme Court.
