President Obama on Thursday brushed aside concerns from some of his supporters that his Supreme Court nominee does not add diversity to the bench.

Obama chose Judge Merrick Garland, a white man of the Jewish faith, to serve on the nation’s highest court. Civil rights and progressive groups had urged the president to select a female nominee or a person of color.

“Well, he’s from Skokie,” Obama joked at a town hall at the University of Chicago School of Law, referring to the predominantly white Chicago suburb where Garland was raised.

“Yeah, he’s a white guy. But he’s a really outstanding jurist. Sorry,” he added.

The president spoke at the school where he once taught Thursday, where he urged Senate Republicans to end their Supreme Court blockade and give Garland a hearing and a vote

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