Besides the obvious political purposes, there are good reasons of putting someone on the bench from different backgrounds. I think it is important to have a Supreme Court that is representational of America. Having 9 old white men is not representational.

I would be in favor of nominating a minority or woman to the bench. Coming from a different upbringing and belonging to different communities, they will often have different viewpoints that are important for behind the scenes SCOTUS debate.

Also, I don't think "lack of experience" is one of the things that the administration is looking for. It would be tough to argue that Chief Justice Roberts had a lack of experience, even though he was only 50 years old and had only served as a judge for four years. He just had different experience than other Justices had. That is exactly what Obama said he is looking for. Not somebody inexperienced, but somebody that has experience outside the bubble of appellate courts.

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