President Joe Biden is looking for at least three judges to fill an expected vacancy in the Supreme Court as he prepares to quickly fulfill his campaign vow to appoint the first black woman to the national high court, according to his aides and colleagues.
As Justice Stephen Breyer plans to retire, preliminary discussions about his successor are centered on U.S. Regional Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and U.S. Regional Judge J. Michelle Childs and California Supreme Court Judge Leondra Kruger, according to four acquaintances who spoke on the matter. anonymous to discuss White House negotiations. Jackson and Kruger have long been seen as potential nominees.
Since Biden took office in January 2021, he has focused on appointing a separate panel of judges to the state bench, placing five black women on appeals courts, and nominating three others before the Senate. Other candidates for the high court may come from the party, said Biden’s aides and allies, especially since almost all of the recent Supreme Court nominees have been judges of state appeals.
He has a solid pool from which to choose a candidate, in addition to other sources. This is a historic opportunity to appoint someone with a strong history of human rights and human rights, said Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP.
By the end of his first year, Biden had secured the approval of 40 judges, most of them from President Ronald Reagan. Of those, 80% are women and 53% are people of color, according to the White House.
Jackson, 51, has been appointed by President Barack Obama as a regional court judge. Biden sued him in the U.S. Court of Appeals. District of Columbia Circuit. Early in his career, he was also Breyer’s legal secretary.
Childrens, a state judge in South Carolina, has been appointed but has not yet been confirmed to serve in the same district court. His name appeared in part because he is a favorite of some of the top lawmakers, including Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.
Kruger, a graduate of Harvard and Yale law schools, was previously a clerk of the Supreme Court and has filed numerous appeals before judges as a federal attorney.
Breyer, 83, will retire at the end of the summer, according to two sources who confirmed the news to the Associated Press on Wednesday. They discussed the condition of the disclosure so as not to obstruct Breyer’s official announcement.
However, the Senate could confirm the successor before the official vacancy, so the White House was already in operation and it was expected to take at least a few weeks before the official appointment.
Biden said Wednesday he would not continue with Breyer’s announcement.
All justice should have the opportunity to decide what they will do and to declare themselves, “Biden said.”
When Biden joined the White House, he said that if he could get a chance to nominate someone in court, he would make history by electing a black woman. And he repeated that promise from then on.
As president, I can be honored, honored by appointing the first African American woman. Because it should look like a country. It’s been a long time ago, Biden said in February 2020 just before the South Carolina presidency.
Adding a black woman to court could mean a series of four female judges and two black judges serving simultaneously in a nine-member court. Justice Clarence Thomas is the only Black justice in court and the second ever, after Thorgood Marshall.
And Biden will have the opportunity to show black voters increasingly frustrated with the president who helped them elect him to be serious about their concerns, especially after he failed to pass a voting rights law.
At the same time, Breyer’s substitution for another liberal justice will not change the structure of the court. The Conservatives outscored the liberals by 6-3, and three of Donald Trump’s nominees made the court already very strong.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said Biden’s nominee would receive immediate hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee and would be fully reviewed and confirmed by the United States Senate at all deliberate speeds.