Joseph R. Biden says he won’t be “satisfied” until half of the U.S. Supreme Court is filled with women who hold a “living document” view of the Constitution.

The former vice president told Democrats on the campaign trail that “academia” agrees with him: Supreme Court justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg have a philosophically correct view of the high court.

“I for 22 years, I think it was, taught constitutional laws, the separation of powers. What I presided over as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee — they tell me more Supreme Court nomination judges than anybody in history just because I’ve been around so long. The people that I would appoint to the Court, are people who have a view of the Constitution as a living document, not as a state document,” he said Dec. 28 while speaking in Washington, Iowa.

“I argued and continued to argue, and the bulk of academia agrees with this now, is that if in fact there is a right to privacy in the Constitution — it’s not mentioned, it’s the Ninth Amendment, there are a number of rights in the Constitution — it’s also there are a number of other rights that exist that relate to how you view whether or not all the amendments taken together in the the constitutional body actually protects people in their privacy. And so they’re the kind of judge — I would look to judges, potential nominees, they would have to acknowledge the fact that there are unenumerated rights that are nonetheless constitutional rights; they’re not mentioned by name in the Constitution.”

The Democratic frontrunner then cited Justices Kagan and Ginsburg as blueprints for a proper Supreme Court justice.

“And, by the way, I’ve said years ago that I’ll be satisfied when at least half the court represents the country and are women,” he added during a visit to Washington High School.

Joe Biden speaks in Washington, Iowa: “The people that I would appoint to the Court, are people who have a view of the Constitution as a living document.” pic.twitter.com/DazbAQiIzS — The Hill (@thehill) December 31, 2019

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