CHICAGO – President Barack Obama has defended his pick of a white man of Jewish background to serve on the nation’s highest court, facing criticism that he could have chosen someone from a more diverse background.

Obama spoke at a town hall-style event at the University of Chicago Law School, where he once taught, as part of a White House campaign to pressure the Republican-led Senate to approve Garland, a centrist appellate court judge.

He responded to a question from a student about what kind of “diversity” Judge Merrick Garland brought to the job. Obama joked that he came from Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

“At no point did I say: ‘Oh, I need a black lesbian from Skokie in that slot … can you find me one?’ That’s just not how I’ve approached it,” Obama said, noting he had transformed the federal court with diverse picks.

“Yeah, he’s a white guy, but he’s a really outstanding jurist. Sorry,” Obama said of Garland, 63, calling him “indisputably qualified to serve on the highest court in the land.”

Obama’s first two Supreme Court picks were women, including Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s first Hispanic justice. Some groups had hoped Obama would this time nominate appeals court judge Sri Srinivasan to be the court’s first Indian-American member.

Still president stated his record in “transforming the federal courts from a diversity standpoint,” noting that he’s nominated an unprecedented amount of black people, Latinos and women to the bench. , the

Judge Merrick Garland faces an uphill fight being confirmed in the face of Republican opposition.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has insisted the next president, who will take office on January 20 after the November 8 election, should fill the vacancy created by the February 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Before the event, McConnell dismissed Obama’s Chicago event as political theatre.

“I’m sure he’ll gloss over the fact that the decision about filling this pivotal seat could impact our country for decades, that it could dramatically affect our most cherished constitutional rights like those contained in the First and Second Amendments,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech, referring to gun rights and freedom of speech and religion.

The high court is now split 4-4 between conservatives and liberals. Garland, if confirmed, could tilt the court to the left for the first time in decades.

– with Reuters