Feb. 25 (UPI) — Nearly a month after he announced that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire, President Joe Biden on Friday announced that he is nominating federal appellate judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the high court to replace him.
Biden said late last month that he would follow through on a campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the high court, and that he would announce his choice before the end of February.
With only a few days left in the month, Biden has settled on Jackson, whom he appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last summer.
“Judge Jackson is one of the nation’s brightest legal minds,” the White House said in a statement Friday.
“President Biden sought a candidate with exceptional credentials, unimpeachable character, and unwavering dedication to the rule of law. He also sought a nominee … who is wise, pragmatic, and has a deep understanding of the Constitution.”
The White House said that Biden will formally announce Jackson’s nomination at 2 p.m. EST on Friday. Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to serve as U.S. vice president, will attend the ceremony.
Jackson, 51, was one of several potential candidates to succeed Breyer, along with California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and South Carolina District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs.
“Judge Jackson is an exceptionally qualified nominee as well as an historic nominee, and the Senate should move forward with a fair and timely hearing and confirmation,” the White House added.
Biden’s nomination is historic. No Black woman has ever been nominated to serve on the nation’s high court — and Jackson, if confirmed, would be just the sixth woman appointed to the bench.
Eaddy said that the Supreme Court bench has “long been covered by a cement ceiling.”
“Today that ceiling is shattered into a million pieces,” she added.
The D.C. appeals court on which Jackson serves has previously seen seven of its judges move up to the Supreme Court — including Brett Kavanaugh, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas.
Biden appointed Jackson to the appellate court last June. Before that, she was a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for seven years after serving for four as vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission. She was also Biden’s first appointment to the federal appellate courts and was confirmed by the Senate 53-44 last summer — with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joining Democrats in voting to confirm her.
Breyer, 83, announced his decision to retire from the high court bench last month. He was appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1994 to replace the retiring Harry Blackmun.
All members of the Supreme Court are appointed for life. Most usually serve on the bench until their death, but some have opted to retire. It’s believed that at least part of the reason for Breyer’s retirement is to guarantee that he’ll be replaced with another liberal justice — avoiding the possibility that he could die during a Republican administration and his successor is chosen by a Republican president, which would put liberal justices at a perilous 2-7 disadvantage on the court.
Calls for Breyer to retire grew exponentially after the liberal Ginsburg died in September 2020 and Trump replaced her — quickly before the presidential election that ultimately put Biden in the White House — with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Ginsburg’s sudden death and Barrett’s speedy appointment inflated the Supreme Court’s conservative majority from 5-4 to 6-3. Including Biden’s nomination, Republican presidents have appointed 14 of the last 19 high court justices.
“This is a complicated country,” Breyer said during his announcement last month. “There’s more than 330 million people, and my mother used to say it’s every race, it’s every religion — and she would emphasize this — and it’s every point of view possible.
“And it’s a kind of miracle when you sit there and see all these people in front of you. People that are so different in what they think, and yet they’ve decided to help solve their major differences under law.”
Biden took several weeks to mull possible candidates and met with congressional leaders to gauge support and sentiment from both Democrats and Republicans. The nomination will be Biden’s first.
Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices in only one term and former President Barack Obama appointed two, both women. Franklin D. Roosevelt put more justices on the high court bench than any other president — nine — but he served for 12 years in the White House before the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution limited presidents to a maximum of two terms over eight years.
