Biden Decides On Supreme Court Nominee, Will Reveal Name By End Of Week

Despite intense opposition from the public (some 76% of Americans oppose the president’s plan to nominate a black woman for the seat), President Biden has decided to move ahead with his plan to nominate a black woman to serve on the Supreme court, with his nominee expected to be announced by the end of the week, according to Fox News.

As Fox and others (including us) have previously noted, the finalists for the seat are Ketanji Brown Jackson, Leondra Kruger and Michelle Childs. We first profiled all three women in our original post about Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement.

First off, it’s worth noting that all three Biden finalists are relatively young for the Court. Brown Jackson is 51, Kruger is 45, and Childs is 55. And Brown Jackson and Kruger for sure possess the legal credentials necessary potentially making them attractive to some moderate Republican voters (perhaps one or two). Not that Biden needs the Republicans: There is no filibuster for SCOTUS nominees.

• In that line, we have Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was appointed last summer to the Washington DC Court of Appeals (seen as a stepping stone to the nation’s highest court). She is seen as among the top candidate since President Biden has said he would nominate a black woman, what would be a first for the court. But KBJ, as she has become known, isn’t the only contender.

Ketanji Brown Jackson

• Next up, we have California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger is also in the running, having served as an acting deputy solicitor general in the Obama administration, presenting 12 arguments on behalf of the federal government. Like four of the current justices, she graduated from Yale Law School. Like six of the justices, she served as a law clerk on the Supreme Court, for former Justice John Paul Stevens. KBJ was on President Obama’s shortlist for the court in 2016, and Kruger (also a black woman) served as assistant, and then deputy solicitor general in both Democratic and Republican administrations prior to her nomination to California’s highest court.

Leondra Kruger

• US District Judge Michelle Childs is also a potential contender – albeit an outside bet – with a big ally. Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, told Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House counsel, Dana Remus, that whenever an opening emerged on the court, Mr. Biden should nominate a little-known federal judge in his home state: J. Michelle Childs. In one of her more high-profile cases, Judge Childs struck down a South Carolina rule during the 2020 election that would have required a witness to sign absentee ballots, helping to save the vote for the Democrats.

Judge Michelle Childs

Some, including Dr. Ben Carson the former GOP presidential candidate and longtime surgeon, accused Biden of bringing America back to it racist pass by insisting that he would only consider black women for the seat.

“Many people fought and gave their lives to bring equality. And now we’re reverting back to identity politics. And as we continue to do that, we’re bringing more division into our country,” Carson added.

And he’s not the only one: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine has accused Biden of needlessly “politicizing” the process with his demands on gender and race.

But whoever Biden picks won’t be quite as important as the real question for Democrats: Can they get their guy (or girl) in the seat before November? Or will this be Merrick Garland all over again for the Dems?