Transcript for June 14, 1993: President Clinton nominates Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Supreme Court

From ABC this is world news tonight we. Peter Jennings good evening we begin tonight with a decision that will as the president said today affect every American in time. After three months of looking at more than forty candidates mr. Clinton has decided. On the person he wants is the next Supreme Court justice she is judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the bare details of these she's sixty years old born in New York. An activist lawyer at one time in the cause of women's rights a judge with a reputation for having an open mind we begin at the white house with ABC's preview. After a week of intense speculation the president came forward with a nominee he first interviewed only F today. But officials say a judge Ginsburg so impressed mr. Clinton that she in effect won the nomination outright in their meeting. People will find as I have that this nominee is a person of immense. Character. Quite simply what's in her record speaks volumes about what is in her heart. Throughout her life she has repeatedly stood for the individuals the person less well off the outsider in society. Specifically the president cited her long career as a lawyer fighting for women's rights. But after those years as a crusading lawyer as a judge he said she'd shown herself adept at reaching agreement with other judges. If this is a time for consensus building on the court and I believe it is judge Ginsburg will be on a table and effective architect. Of that effort. For her part to judge displayed some of the qualities mr. Clinton evidently found so winning. As she said what her apartment would mean for all women. It contributes to that end of the days. When women. At least half the talent pool in our society. Appear in high places. Only as one at a time performers. She thanked her children for a she put it getting her out of the kitchen. And she had a final word of thanks for her late mother whom she described as the strongest and bravest person she's known. I pray. That I may be. All that she would have been. Had she lives in an age. When women could aspire and achieve. And daughters are cherished. As much as sons. As recently as Friday the president had seemed intent on nominating federal appellate judge Stephen Breyer of Massachusetts. What change that officials insist was mr. Clinton's powerful indeed emotional reaction to judge Ginsburg. Reaction that showed today as she spoke. And showed again in his response to a reporter's question afterward. The withdrawal would win their nomination sir and you're apparent focus on judge Breyer. And your turn late it seems to judge Ginsburg. May have created an impression perhaps unfair of a certain zig zag quality in the decision making process here I wonder sir if you could kind of walk us through it. Perhaps disabuse us of any notion he might have along those lines psychic. I have long since given up thought that I can disabuse some of you turning any substantive decision into anything but political process. How you could ask a question like that after the statement she just made is beyond me. That was the first and last question the president would answer an unusual reaction for a man who is normally been. Patient wits and responsive to reporters' questions. Aides said mr. Clinton had simply been deeply moved by his nominee's remarks. And felt the question inappropriate to the moment. Brit Hume ABC news the White House.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.