Conservative commentator Bay Buchanan said on "Larry King Live" on Monday that Obama's choice of Sonia Sotomayor to fill a Supreme Court vacancy last year, and now Elena Kagan are signs that the President has "dummied down the Supreme Court."
"What makes her qualified?" Buchanan asked, referring to Kagan. "She has -- being a president of Harvard makes you qualified? It does not. What he's done is dummy down. He has dummied down the Supreme Court. He has given two of the best appointments of his administration to people who are not the best and the brightest. That's unfortunate."
Harvard Kennedy School Professor and CNN political anlayst David Gergen, who also appearded on the program, disagreed: "I just don't understand why someone who has lived a life of excellence, someone who has distinguished herself in role after role, including that of solicitor general, can possibly be described as someone who is sort of mediocre. He's gone to a choice of quality."
At one point political strategist James Carville suggested that Obama should have appointed author John Grisham to the Supreme Court post..
"The next Supreme Court justice should be John Grisham. He's written a lot. He went to Old Miss. And, you know, I think he'd be a dog gone good Supreme Court justice," Carville said. "I read his books. I like the way this guy thinks."
WATCH the conversation: