Given that the Democrats have the narrowest majority in the upper chamber, Biden must elect someone who can safely get 50 votes in the Senate (Vice President Kamala Harris could provide the second round if the Senate is divided over the nomination). In addition to counting votes, Biden must also keep an eye on the calendar. Senate Republicans are likely to win back the House in this year`s midterm elections and have already signaled they will block a Biden nominee for the Supreme Court. It usually takes two to three months for a president to have his nominee confirmed by the Senate once he is appointed. However, the recent judicial system was confirmed in just a month and a half when Senate Republicans rushed to approve Justice Amy Coney Barrett ahead of the 2020 election. On Thursday, Biden promised a “rigorous” search for a candidate. “I will listen carefully to all advice given to me and carefully study previous cases and cases. I will meet with potential candidates,” Biden said, setting a goal for an announcement by the end of February. A short list of potential candidates was circulating in Washington long before Breyer`s retirement plans were made public, and officials in the White House counsel`s office were piling files on various candidates in anticipation of a possible vacancy. Biden said he would make his choice by the end of February. Biden promised he would choose a black woman for the job, a first for the court, and something he said was long overdue. Among court watchers and Democrats, the top candidates for the position are applying: Brown Jackson also brings his experience to make the justice system fair and equitable. Early in her career, she worked as a public defender, helping impoverished defendants navigate the criminal justice system.

She also brings her expertise from 2010 to 2014 as Vice-President of the Federal Criminal Commission. As part of that commission, Brown helped Jackson “retroactively obtain a reduction in sentences for crack cocaine, which allowed more than 12,000 people to seek reduced sentences,” the advocacy group Demand Justice reported. Announcing the decision, Brown Jackson said: “Today, the Commission closes the arc that began with its first recognition of the inherent injustice of the 100:1 crack/powder disparity all those years ago. I say that justice demands this result. Breyer`s seat could be the only one Biden holds on the Supreme Court, and it may not be the one he holds — if Republicans take back the Senate before the president`s election for a successor is confirmed. The following table lists all Supreme Court appointees since 1789, in chronological order by date of appointment, and the actions taken by the Speaker and the Senate with respect to these appointments. Specifically, for each Supreme Court appointment, the chart lists the following: “The fact that no black woman was appointed shows a lack of previous selection procedures, not a lack of qualified candidates to be appointed to the Supreme Court,” White House press secretary told reporters Thursday. Jen Psaki, noting that Biden has worked to appoint more African-American women to the district court than any other president before him. Other potential candidates include Federal Judge Tiffany Cunningham of the Federal Circuit; Eunice Lee of the Second Circuit; and Wilhelmina Wright of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. Two lawyers that Biden has nominated for judicial positions but have not yet been confirmed are also on the list: Nancy Abudu, nominated for the 11th Circuit, and Arianna Freeman, nominated for the third circle.

“I think there are a lot of qualified, conservative, liberal African-American women who could go to court,” he continued. “So I don`t see Michelle Childs as an act of affirmative action. I see a black woman in the square, which makes the court more like America. So let`s make the court more like America, but qualification has to be the biggest consideration. On June 27, 2018, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his resignation from the Supreme Court, effective July 31,[28][29] giving Trump the opportunity to send a second Supreme Court nominee to the Senate for confirmation. Kavanaugh was officially appointed on July 9 and selected from a list of “25 highly qualified potential candidates” reviewed by the Trump administration. [30] [31] Kavanaugh`s appointment was formally sent to the Senate on July 10, 2018, and confirmation hearings began on July 4, 2018. September. The hearings lasted longer than expected due to objections to the withholding of documents relevant to Kavanaugh`s time in the Bush administration as a lawyer and the presence of protesters. [32] [33] Below is a list of people President Trump has identified as his potential nominees for the Supreme Court. Most of them were published in two lists released by the Trump campaign in 2016. Others were added to a revised list released by the White House on November 17, 2017[44] and a fourth list published on September 9, 2020.

[45] Brown Jackson is likely at the top of Biden`s list for several reasons. She meets the criteria he set, and she`s also someone who could probably win a Senate confirmation battle in a Senate controlled by moderate Democrats Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin. Still, Biden`s shortlist would include California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and South Carolina District Court Justice J. Michelle Childs. Childs, a judge in South Carolina federal court, is said to have major support in House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a Biden ally who helped hand South Carolina over to the potential candidate in the 2020 Democratic primaries. Last month, Biden nominated Childs to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the nomination is still pending. Childs, 55, has been a U.S. District Judge in South Carolina since 2010 and was nominated by Biden to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington last month. During his tenure on District Court, Brown Jackson disposed of more than 550 cases. These included progressive decisions on abortion rights, labor rights, immigrant rights, and disability rights.

The Senate Judiciary Committee plays an important role in this process, which conducts a comprehensive assessment of a candidate`s background and qualifications before the Senate reviews the appointment. Once confirmed for a seat on the Court, judges sit for life, serving until they die in office, resign or retire, or are accused and removed from office. However, since a separate appointment is required from the Chair, a sitting associate judge appointed Chief Justice must restart the confirmation process. In rare cases, presidents have been able to make appointments to the Supreme Court without Senate approval while the Senate is in recess. However, these “break dates” are temporary and expire at the end of the next session of the Senate. Presidents have taken breaks 12 times, most recently in 1958. [4] South Carolina District Judge J. Michelle Childs, meanwhile, was nominated to the DC Circuit last month and would offer educational diversity to the court after attending the University of South Florida for an undergraduate degree and receiving her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law.

Currently, all members of the court, with the exception of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, have earned a bachelor`s degree, a law degree, or both from an Ivy League school. No current judge has these public school degrees. (Kruger earned her bachelor`s degree from Harvard and went to Yale Law School, while Brown Jackson received both degrees from Harvard.) Childs also chose her to support House Majority Leader Jim Clyburn, whose support in the February 2020 South Carolina Democratic primary was crucial to Biden`s eventual rise to the presidency. Biden this week paid tribute to retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, saying he would choose someone worthy of continuing the liberal justice`s legacy. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images Hide caption Biden narrowed the field with a campaign promise to appoint the court`s first female black judge. There`s also an obvious favorite: Ketanji Brown Jackson, a U.S. Court of Appeals judge for the District of Columbia Circuit. “It`s this experience that influences my understanding of what it means to be a judge and judge in Minnesota,” Wright told the Star Tribune in 2012. In more than a decade in private practice, the 55-year-old has served as a judge on the South Carolina circuit, deputy director of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, and commissioner of the South Carolina Workers` Compensation Board.

District Judge Wilhelmina “Mimi” Wright, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota whose review would likely please Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democrat, who sits on the Judiciary Committee. It`s unclear whether Brown Jackson will be the nominee, but after a successful 53-44 nomination vote last year and much speculation about his elevation, it seems more likely than not that Breyer`s former employee will soon sit on the nation`s highest court. Jackson, who is popular with progressives, had spent the last seven years in federal court in Washington, DC and also served for 2 1/2 years on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, appointed by former President Barack Obama. She also worked as an employee for Breyer. Brown Jackson`s 2012-13 confirmation process for the District Court in DC, after being appointed by President Barack Obama, and for the DC circuit last summer, went relatively well. In 2013, it was confirmed by a Senate vote.