Biden Vows To Nominate Black Woman To Succeed Breyer On Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – President Biden vowed Thursday (Jan. 27) to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court by the end of February, saying “it’s long overdue.” The Washington Post reports his pledge came during a White House event with Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who told Biden in a letter released Thursday that he plans to retire at the end of the court’s current term, assuming his replacement is nominated and confirmed.

“I’m here today to express the nation’s gratitude to Justice Stephen Breyer for his remarkable career of public service and his clear-eyed commitment to making our country’s laws work for its people,” Biden said of Breyer, 83, who was nominated to the court in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.

Biden promised during the 2020 campaign to select a Black woman for any vacancy and maintained Thursday that he would fulfill that pledge. “I will select a nominee worthy of Justice Breyer’s legacy of excellence and decency,” Biden said.

In a statement Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Biden should not “outsource” his Supreme Court nominee decision to “the radical left,” laying the groundwork for potential criticism of the president’s pick.

“The American people deserve a nominee with demonstrated reverence for the written text of our laws and our Constitution,” McConnell said in his first public comments about the looming court nomination.

McConnell did not specify what he meant by “radical left.”

The senator also said Biden should keep in mind the even split in the Senate and choose someone who “unites” the country. It is because of McConnell, however, that Senate Democrats need only a simple majority to confirm Biden’s nominee in the 50-50 Senate. In 2017, McConnell changed Senate rules to allow this, lowering the threshold from a two-thirds supermajority.

Here’s what to know

• Breyer’s retirement sets up a new election-year challenge as the deadlocked 50-50 Senate faces a Supreme Court confirmation fight focused on some of the most contentious issues in the nation’s cultural divide.
• Breyer’s retirement abruptly puts a spotlight on a small circle of Black female jurists who are positioned to be chosen as Biden’s first pick to the Supreme Court.
• In nearly three decades on the Supreme Court, Breyer routinely found himself on the losing side of contentious issues but managed to cultivate collegiality as a centrist problem-solver.
• How a Supreme Court nominee becomes a justice: A potential justice nominated by the president must win confirmation in a divided Senate.