Biden pledges to appoint first black woman to Supreme Court by end of February

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer officially announced his retirement Thursday, giving President Joe Biden his first, and possibly only, opportunity to make a nomination for the lifetime appointment.

At the White House, Biden said he would make his decision by the end of February and recommitted to appointing the court’s first black female judge, fulfilling a promise he had repeatedly made during his campaign. for the Oval Office.

“The person I will appoint will be someone of extraordinary qualities, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first black woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Biden said. “It’s long overdue in my opinion.”

Breyer’s Retreat, which will come into effect at the end of June or July when the tribunal is suspended, follows nearly 28 years as an associate judge who has often sided with the most liberal members of the tribunal.

The 83-year-old was the eldest of nine and had faced public pressure from leftist groups for months to retire as Democrats held control of the White House and Senate.

Appearing with Breyer on Thursday from the Roosevelt Room, Biden said he hadn’t made a decision yet on who he would appoint, but said he had begun studying the candidates’ backgrounds and writings.

If confirmed, Biden’s nominee would be the sixth woman to join the court and the third black American to be endorsed since the first judge was sworn in in 1789.

“I am ready for a black woman to sit on the Supreme Court” tweeted New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker, one of three black members of the Senate.

GOP rejection in the Senate

Biden’s nominee is expected to face a tense confirmation process in the equally divided Senate, where Republicans are already signaling they may not support his pick.

“Judge Breyer’s successor should be someone in the legal mainstream who can command similar broad and bipartisan support,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, said in a statement. “Such a candidate will preserve the faith in the court and reflect the will of Americans when they elected a fairly divided Senate.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that an evenly divided Senate means Biden has “a mandate … to govern from the middle, manage our institutions and unite America.”

“The president must not outsource this important decision to the radical left. The American people deserve a candidate with a demonstrated respect for the written text of our laws and our Constitution,” continued McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky.

Focus on justice

The first step for Biden’s nominee, once officially announced, will be to schedule private meetings, or conversations, with senators. While nominees typically meet with all or nearly all of the 100 lawmakers, special consideration is usually given to those who serve on the Judiciary Committee, which holds the confirmation hearing.

The Biden administration will likely dedicate several White House staffers to preparing the nominee for these meetings and guiding her through the confirmation process.

The Judiciary Committee, split between 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans, should move “quickly” to confirm Biden’s choice, according to Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat.

It would be Durbin’s first nomination process for the Supreme Court as president, despite having been on the panel for more than 16 years.

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein was the top Democrat on the panel and oversaw the confirmation hearings of the three Supreme Court nominees nominated by former President Donald Trump.

Feinstein resigned from the position in November 2020 after several left-leaning organizations called for his resignation over his approach to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing. Many Democratic groups felt that Feinstein’s cordial tone with then-President Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, and a hug at the end of the hearings did not strike the right tone.

“After serving as the Judiciary Committee’s lead Democrat for four years, I will not be seeking the presidency or the rank of member in the next Congress,” Feinstein said in a statement at the time.

Republicans also have a different leader on the panel than they did in the last Supreme Court confirmation process — Grassley, who oversaw confirmation hearings for two justices in previous terms as president.

Blocking possible

If Biden’s nominee wins the support of at least one Republican on the Judiciary Committee, her nomination will go directly to the Senate for a vote. But if the panel freezes with all Democrats voting for her and all Republicans voting against her, the Senate will have to take the extra step of offloading her nomination from the committee.

The Senate would debate the discharge motion for up to four hours, after which it would vote to bring the nomination to the Senate. If a simple Senate majority votes for it, the Supreme Court nominee would advance to procedural votes and a confirmation vote.

If all GOP senators oppose the nominee, the 50 Senate Democrats, including centrist Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, will have to vote to confirm her and Vice President Kamala Harris shall break the tie.

Manchin, Ina thursday interview with West Virginia MetroNews’ “Talkline” program, said he wouldn’t rule out a candidate more left-leaning than him, noting “it’s not too hard to be more liberal than me.”

Manchin said Biden’s nominee, regardless of his philosophical beliefs, would not change the balance of the conservative-leaning 6-3 court and is more interested in their layout.

“Do they have the disposition to be able to work with their fellow judges, exercise good judgment and spread out and use the rule of law as a guide?” Manchin said. “That’s what I’m looking for, so it will be the character of the person.”

One of Biden’s potential nominees, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — who grew up in Miami — already has experience with the Senate judicial confirmation process.

The Senate voted 53-44 in June 2021 to confirm her to the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting with the Democrats to endorse it.

Rigorous process

Biden said his process for selecting a candidate for the seat will be “rigorous” and that the woman he chooses will be “worthy of Justice Breyer’s legacy of excellence and decency.”

Breyer’s remarks about his retirement focused less on that career and more on the diversity of the country’s 330 million people as well as how many of the founders of the United States called democracy an “experiment.”

Breyer said his wife paid many of their grandchildren to memorize former President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, before repeating several lines of the speech himself.

“My grandchildren and their children; they will determine if the experiment still works,” Breyer said. “And of course I’m an optimist, and I’m pretty sure I will be. Does it surprise you that this is the thought that comes to mind today?”