And he's also looking for someone like himself.
I'm not surprised at the second revelation. Dear Leader is known to be quite fond of himself.
But "passion" is a curious quality to seek in a nominee for the nation's high court.
The law, after all, is supposed to be "Reason, free from passion." That's the classic definition of the law and one of the best definitions I've ever heard.
Reason free from passion.
But hey, why quibble over a little thing like that?
Here's the story from Ben Feller at Forbes:
President Barack Obama wants a Supreme Court nominee who is not only schooled in the law but passionate about how it affects people's lives, a scholar willing to decide a case from the heart when the constitutional answer is elusive.
In many ways, he is in pursuit of someone like himself.
Obama's background - community organizer in Chicago, president of the Harvard Law Review, instructor of constitutional law, member of the Senate during two Supreme Court confirmations - is driving his thinking about whom he will pick. He is not just setting the tone; he is engaged in the search.
"I don't think you'll see, in picking a Supreme Court nominee, that the president is going to look for a recommendation and agree or disagree with that," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in an interview about Obama's deliberations. "You have a president who understands and has studied many of these issues - even taught them. This is a process that will be decided ultimately by him."
Obama is deciding among a small group of candidates to replace Justice David Souter, who is retiring next month. The White House is not confirming any names but cautioning that no media organization has reported every person under serious review.
What's known is that Obama is likely to choose a female candidate for a nine-member court that has just one woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is expected to choose a relatively young person who could serve for decades and may opt for someone from outside the traditional path of the federal appellate system.
One other characteristic is critical.
"I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes," Obama said recently.
"I don't think you'll see, in picking a Supreme Court nominee, that the president is going to look for a recommendation and agree or disagree with that," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in an interview about Obama's deliberations. "You have a president who understands and has studied many of these issues - even taught them. This is a process that will be decided ultimately by him."
Obama is deciding among a small group of candidates to replace Justice David Souter, who is retiring next month. The White House is not confirming any names but cautioning that no media organization has reported every person under serious review.
What's known is that Obama is likely to choose a female candidate for a nine-member court that has just one woman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is expected to choose a relatively young person who could serve for decades and may opt for someone from outside the traditional path of the federal appellate system.
One other characteristic is critical.
"I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles, as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions and outcomes," Obama said recently.
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