Snowe and Boxer call Obama out on female Court appointee

Barbara Boxer and Olympia Snowe sent a letter to Obama:

Dear Mr. President:

The announced retirement of United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter—an outstanding jurist—has left you with the crucial task of nominating someone for a lifetime appointment to our nation’s highest bench.
The most important thing is to nominate an exceptionally well-qualified, intelligent person to replace Justice Souter – and we are convinced that person should be a woman.
Women make up more than half of our population, but right now hold only one seat out of nine on the United States Supreme Court. This is out of balance. In order for the Court to be relevant, it needs to be diverse and better reflect America.
Mr. President, we look forward with great anticipation to your choice for the Supreme Court vacancy.

And went public with it, apparently.

That's pretty much a public challenge, a double-dog-dare, practically a glove thrown in the president's face.

I'm thinking that Obama's response to Snowe was -- "I don't use that sort of litmus test for justices. If you vote for the public-option health care plan and get your buddies like Susan Collins to follow suit...we'll talk. If, however, you dig in your heels and obstruct everything like the other Republicans, then ciao, baby."