By Lauren Victoria Burke
NNPA Newswire
With the retirement of Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, the oldest serving member of the nation’s highest court, President Biden has a unique opportunity to make a historic pick. On January 27, President Biden confirmed who he would select for the high court.
“The person I nominate to replace Justice Breyer will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity. And they will be the first Black woman nominated to the United States Supreme Court,” the President’s twitter account proclaimed in virtually the same words he used standing five feet from retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer in the White House.
At the White House before Breyer spoke, the President said, “I have made no decision except one. The person I will nominate will be a person of extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity and that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue in my opinion. I made that commitment during my campaign for President and I will keep that commitment.”
On February 25, 2020, as Biden’s campaign for the presidency was in serious trouble, he said during a debate that “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court, to make sure we in fact get every representation.”
With that promise confirmed and history about to be made, many are focused on who that historic selection will be.
The names widely mentioned to replace Associate Justice Breyer are Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Justice Leondra Kruger, 45, a justice on the California Supreme Court since 2014, and J. Michelle Childs, 55, who is on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
President Biden has set the timetable for historic Supreme Court selection for February.
Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE. She is a political analyst who appears regularly on #RolandMartinUnfiltered. She may be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke
