Joe Biden ready to nominate ‘long overdue’ black woman to US Supreme Court
President Joe Biden strongly affirmed Thursday that he will nominate the first black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, declaring such historic representation is “long overdue” and promising to announce his choice by the end of February.
In a White House ceremony marking a moment of national transition, Biden praised retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, who will have spent nearly 28 years on the high court by the time he leaves at the end of the term, as “a model public servant at a time of great division in this country.”
Justice Breyer has served on the Supreme Court since 1994 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton.
His retirement will not change the balance of the court, currently 6-3 with a conservative advantage. The 83-year-old justice worked to forge majorities with more moderate justices right and left of centre.
And with this, the search for Breyer’s replacement was underway in full. Biden promised a nominee worthy of Breyer’s legacy and said he’d already been studying the backgrounds and writings of potential candidates.
“I’ve made no decision except one: The person I will nominate will be somebody of extraordinary qualifications, character, and integrity,” he said. “And that person will be the first black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It is long overdue.”
Biden’s choice will be historic on its face: No black woman has ever served on the high court. But the decision is also coming at a critical time of national reckoning over race and gender inequality. However, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority is destined to remain intact.
Biden is using his choice to fulfill one of his early campaign promises, one that helped resurrect his moribund primary campaign and propel him to the White House in 2020.
And it gives him the chance to show black voters, who are increasingly frustrated with a president they helped to elect, that he is serious about their concerns, particularly with his voting rights legislation stalled in the Senate. It also could help drive Democratic enthusiasm amid concerns about a midterm routing in congressional races.
Once Biden picks a nominee, Democrats said they will move to confirm the person quickly with their slim majority in the Senate leveraging on the change in Senate rules by Republicans during the Trump administration to allow simple majority confirmation of Supreme Court nominees.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Biden’s nominee “will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed”.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will vet the nominee and hold confirmation hearings that typically extend over three days. The full Senate will vote on the nominee once the committee approves the nomination.
Clarence Thomas, 73, will now become the oldest member of the Supreme Court.
AP
