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MS. IFILL: News of Justice David Souter's retirement broke overnight and the president himself confirmed it this afternoon and in doing so, he also outlined what he's looking for in filling his first high court vacancy.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: (From videotape.) I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives -- whether they can make a living and care for their families, whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation. 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.
MS. IFILL: So, Pete, the president had a lot to say in that little line, but I kept thinking that he was trying to tell us something. Could you read between the lines?
MR. WILLIAMS: I think what he was trying to say is, gee, I wish I could be a Supreme Court justice. I'm awfully qualified. (Laughter.)
MS. IFILL: He was describing himself in some ways.
MR. WILLIAMS: He really was and I think that at his core, he would like to find a female version of himself. And I mean that mostly seriously. Because look at the things he cited -- independent mind, someone with a record of excellence and integrity, someone with empathy, understanding the struggles of real people and the difficulties they face in coping with life in America. We know that he's going to be under heavy pressure to appoint a woman, to get back to two justices, at least, on the Supreme Court, back when we had Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who's still there. And if that's what it is, he wants a woman with all those qualities.
Now, I think the question is, the big question for him is will he take the safe route and look at someone who is a judge, who has a record -- remember he said someone with a record of excellence and integrity. Well, you come with a built in record if you're a judge because all your opinions are published. Or will he say, maybe it's time -- as he suggested during the campaign -- to take somebody who isn't a judge, someone who has political experience, a governor, someone who might be secretary of Homeland Security right now, Janet Napolitano, former governor, former prosecutor and has experience of her own. So I don't know which way he's going to go, but that's the thought that I had.
MS. IFILL: I find it interesting that the new litmus test is empathy.
MR. WILLIAMS: Well, he said that repeatedly during the campaign. And he also said today, I don't want someone who just looks at footnotes and law books. That was right out of the campaign. Now, that's one thing to say as a goal. How that translates individual nominees is the hard part. We did learn today that even during the transition, even before he became president, Mr. Obama, Senator Obama then, gave a list of people to his staff and said, let's start here. These are the sort of people I'd like to consider for potential Supreme Court nominees.
