Biden to get first pick with Breyer retirement
President vowed to name first Black woman to top court
Longtime liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring, numerous sources said Wednesday, giving President Joe Biden his first high court opening, which he has pledged to fill with the historic naming of the court’s first Black woman.
Breyer, 83, has been a pragmatic force on a court that has grown increasingly conservative, trying to forge majorities with more moderate justices right and left of centre.
His retirement will give Biden the chance to name and win confirmation of a replacement before next fall’s election when Republicans could retake the Senate and block future nominees.
Democrats are planning a swift confirmation, perhaps even before Breyer officially steps down, which is not expected before summer. He has been a justice since 1994, appointed by president Bill Clinton.
Along with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he opted not to step down during Barack Obama’s presidency, the last time the Democrats controlled the White House and the Senate.
Breyer’s departure won’t change the 6-3 conservative advantage on the court because his replacement will almost certainly be confirmed by a Senate where Democrats have the slimmest majority.
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.”
A White House decision on a nominee could take several weeks, Biden aides and allies said.
Republicans who changed the Senate rules during the Trump era to allow simple majority confirmation of Supreme Court nominees appeared resigned to the outcome.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the top Republican on the judiciary committee, said: “If all Democrats hang together — which I expect they will — they have the power to replace Justice Breyer in 2022 without one Republican vote in support.”
Among the names being circulated as potential nominees are California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, U.S. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, prominent civil rights lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill and U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs, whom Biden has nominated to be an appeals court judge.
Childs is a favourite of Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, who made a crucial endorsement of Biden just before South Carolina’s presidential primary in 2020.
Biden’s pledge to name the first Black woman to the Supreme Court was made during the 2020 presidential campaign.
Since he took office in 2021, he has been focused on increasing racial, ethnic and experiential diversity in the lower federal courts. He has doubled the number of Black women who serve on appellate courts just below the Supreme Court, with three more nominees pending.