--- ---  # Watch Clinton Describe Her Ideal Supreme Court Justice  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 10, 2016 4:28 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participates in a debate in Kendall, Fla. on March 9, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton participates in a debate in Kendall, Fla. on March 9, 2016.Wilfredo Lee—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 10, 2016 4:28 AM UTC Hillary Clinton didn’t name any judges she thinks should be on the Supreme Court, but she did name three cases that would guide her pick. When asked at Wednesday’s debate about the current vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the former Secretary of State said she wants his replacement to uphold _Roe v. Wade_, overturn _Citizens United_ and avoid decisions like _Bush v. Gore_. _Roe v. Wade_ was the 1973 decision that recognized a right to abortion. _Citizens United v. FEC_ was the 2010 decision that undid campaign finance restrictions. And _Bush v. Gore_ was the 2000 decision that ended recounts in the presidential election. “I fully support President Obama’s intention under the Constitution to nominate a successor to Justice Scalia,” she told the crowd in Miami. “And I believe no state probably understands this better than Florida, because lets remember three words: _Bush vs. Gore_. A court took away a presidency. Now we’ve got the Republican Congress trying to take away the Constitution and we should not tolerate that.” Senate Republicans have said they will not hold hearings or vote on anyone Obama nominates, preferring to let the next president fill the vacancy. Clinton then spoke more specifically about what qualifications she would look for in a justice. “Obviously you look for people who are not only qualified on paper, but have a heart, have life experience, understand what these decisions mean in the lives of Americans,” she said. “Clearly I would look for people who believe that _Roe v. Wade_ is settled law, and that _Citizens United_ needs to be overturned as quickly as possible.” Sanders was not asked about the vacancy. Democratic Debate: Hillary Clinton Describes Ideal Justice ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4253569/hillary-clinton-supreme-court-nominee-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4253569/hillary-clinton-supreme-court-nominee-debate/"},"headline":"Watch Clinton Describe Her Ideal Supreme Court Justice","datePublished":"2016-03-10T04:28:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:46:16.538Z","description":"Hillary Clinton cited Roe v. Wade and Citizens United v. FEC as two key cases she would look at to evaluate potential Supreme Court picks.","url":"https://time.com/4253569/hillary-clinton-supreme-court-nominee-debate/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","Supreme Court","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7076db08ccfd687/69888a6bbc6cfc71353dc176/democratic-presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-election-2016-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7076db08ccfd687/69888a6bbc6cfc71353dc176/democratic-presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-election-2016-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Hillary Clinton","caption":"Hillary Clinton","creditText":"Wilfredo Lee—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4253569/hillary-clinton-supreme-court-nominee-debate/","name":"Watch Clinton Describe Her Ideal Supreme Court Justice"}}]}] ```