WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton was tickled Tuesday when an audience member asked whether she'd ever consider nominating President Barack Obama to the Supreme Court.
“Wow, what a great idea!" Clinton said during a town hall in Decorah, Iowa. "Nobody has ever suggested that to me. Wow. I love that."
So...@HillaryClinton said putting @BarackObama on the Supreme Court was a "great idea." pic.twitter.com/0Bk56CDA3n— National Review (@NRO) January 27, 2016
"He may have a few other things to do, but I tell you, that’s a great idea,” Clinton said.
The next president will likely get to nominate multiple members of the Supreme Court, as three of the nine justices are 79 or older.
Prior to his political career, Obama spent 12 years as a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School.
He is also a graduate of Harvard Law School, the alma matter of many past Supreme Court justices. He also served as president of the Harvard Law Review.
Clinton acknowledged that it would be a challenge to get the Senate to approve an Obama Supreme Court nomination, especially given the current GOP-controlled Senate.
But Obama has also said before that he's not interested in serving as a justice.
"I don’t think I have the temperament to sit in a chamber and write opinions," Obama said in a 2014 interview with the New Yorker.
"I love teaching. I miss the classroom and engaging with students," Obama said at the time. "But I think being a justice is a little bit too monastic for me."