Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominated as United States Judge for the District of Columbia, is sworn to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on pending judicial nominations on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 28. 4 year 2021.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
chairperson Joe Biden is expected to announce Friday that he will nominate federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, NBC News and other media outlets reported.
Biden made a decision on who to nominate Thursday night, NBC reported.
The president has vowed to choose a Black woman to succeed Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, who plans to retire in the summer at the end of the court’s current term. Biden made that promise years earlier as a presidential candidate.
Just five women – Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett – have served on the Supreme Court. Only two blacks, Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, were ever assigned to the bench. No black woman has previously sat on the supreme court.
Biden apparently still weighing his options on Thursday: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that afternoon that Biden has not yet reached a “final” decision and that “no job offers have been made.”
Psaki assures that “we are still watching to make an announcement before the end of the month” as Biden promisedwhile also noting that “we have to do a lot of things here at once.”
The president has been deeply involved in managing the crisis over Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, which began earlier this week amid international outcry.
Jackson 51 years old – young of the court modern standards – was confirmed last year before the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a 53-44 vote. All 50 Democrats supported Brown’s nomination, along with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Jackson previously worked as Breyer’s secretary, and her criminal record has get praises from progressives.
Multiple newspapers reported that Biden is also considering South Carolina Federal Judge J. Michelle Childs and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger through to the final days of the selection process.
Because Republicans rescind the 60-vote rule for Supreme Court nominees In the Trump administration, a 50-50 split in the Senate gives Democrats enough power to confirm Biden’s final pick without any Republican votes. Vice President Kamala Harris will cast the decisive vote, if required.
Much of that narrowness was briefly blurred in early February by the news that Senator Ben Ray Lujan, DN.M., was hospitalized after suffering a stroke.
But within two weeks, Lujan released a video statement assuring that he will make a full recovery and returned to the Senate to consider and vote on Biden’s nominee.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
