BIDEN VOWS TO NAME A BLACK WOMAN TO U.S. SUPREME COURT BY END OF FEBRUARY

U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said he plans by the end of February to nominate a Black woman to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, a historic first that he called “long overdue.”

Mr. Biden appeared with Justice Breyer, whom he has known since the 1970s, at the White House after the 83year-old formally announced his retirement in a letter to the President. Justice Breyer wrote that he plans to depart at the conclusion of the court’s current term, typically at the end of June, assuming his successor has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Mr. Biden, who won the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination in large part because of strong support from Black voters, noted that he committed during that campaign to name a Black woman to a lifetime post on the high court and would keep his promise.

“I will select a nominee worthy of Justice Breyer’s legacy of excellence and decency,” Mr. Biden said, calling the selection of a Supreme Court justice one of a president’s most serious constitutional responsibilities. “While I’ve been studying candidates’ backgrounds and writings, I’ve made no decision except one: The person I nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity – and that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue, in my view,” he said.

Potential nominees include Ketanji Brown Jackson, a former law clerk for Justice Breyer confirmed by the Senate last June to serve on an influential U.S. appellate court, and Leondra Kruger, who serves on the California Supreme Court. Another potential contender is Michelle Childs, a federal district court judge in South Carolina whom Mr. Biden already has nominated to the U.S. appeals court in Washington.

Mr. Biden said he wants the Senate, which his fellow Democrats control by a razor-thin margin, to “move promptly” once he chooses his nominee. Democrats can confirm a nominee without a single Republican vote because Republicans in 2017 changed the Senate rules to no longer require 60 of the 100 senators to allow Supreme Court nominations to move forward.