If Hillary Clinton wins her bid for the White House in 2016, President Barack Obama could find himself serving the country as a Supreme Court justice.
At a town hall in Decorah, Iowa on Tuesday, an audience member mentioned to the Democratic presidential candidate that the next president will probably have to make a few Supreme Court appointments and wondered if she would consider nominating Obama.
Clinton lit up at the thought, telling the man, "I'll tell you, that's a great idea!" according to Politico. "No one has ever suggested that to me, I love that, wow."
"I'll be sure to take that under advisement. I mean, he's brilliant. He can set forth an argument, and he was a law professor, so he's got all the credentials," Clinton told the crowd of 450 people.
But even if Clinton does get elected and decides to nominate Obama, it may be next to impossible get him confirmed if the GOP still holds the Senate, Clinton noted, saying, "We do have to get a Democratic Senate to get him confirmed."
And besides, "He may have a few other things to do," Clinton laughingly added. "But I tell you that's a great idea."
Obama certainly has the resume of a justice. The president graduated from Columbia University in New York City in 1983 and entered Harvard Law School in 1988, where a majority of Supreme Court justices also attended. It was there that he held the prestigious position of president of the Harvard Law Review and was the first African-American to do so. He then went on to work as a civil rights attorney and teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago, noted The Huffington Post.
The president didn't entirely rule out the idea of serving on the Supreme Court when asked in a New Yorker magazine interview in 2014, but he clearly had his doubts. "I love the law, intellectually," Obama said. "I love nutting out these problems, wrestling with these arguments. I love teaching. I miss the classroom and engaging with students. But I think being a justice is a little bit too monastic for me."
Rumors have circulated that Obama may actually teach at Columbia Law School after leaving office, but he has not made any final decisions about his post-presidential plans, reported USA Today.
