In keeping with his prior campaign pledge about filling Supreme Court vacancies, President Joe Biden is on the hunt specifically for a black woman to replace Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who intends to retire after the court’s current term.
In an interview Thursday, Biden seemed to indicate that his search for a nominee had narrowed to “about four people,” at least in terms of his team doing a “deep dive” on the backgrounds of his “shortlist” of prospective candidates, the Washington Examiner reported.
That revelation came during an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt following an event in Virginia, an interview that is scheduled to air in full during the NFL’s Super Bowl on Sunday.
Biden answers questions on SCOTUS nominee search
As seen in a preview clip, Holt asked Biden for an update on his “shortlist” of potential Supreme Court nominees. The president replied that everybody on his list was “incredibly well-qualified and documented. They are really the honor students. They come from the best universities. They have the best experience — some on the bench, some on the practice side.”
Asked how many individuals were on his list, Biden said, “I’ve taken about four people and done a deep dive on them, meaning thorough background checks, to see if there’s anything in the background that would make them not qualified.”
Concerning whether his eventual nominee would get any votes of support from Republicans, the president suggested that was a possibility and proceeded to explain why he believed that to be true.
“I’m not looking to make an ideological choice here,” Biden said. “I’m looking for someone to replace Judge Breyer with the same kind of capacity Judge Breyer had, with an open mind, who understands the Constitution and interprets it in a way that is consistent with the mainstream interpretation of the Constitution.”
President Biden on his search for a Supreme Court nominee:
Biden tells @LesterHoltNBC that he’s done a deep dive on “about four people,” and thinks his pick will get a vote from Republicans
Biden says he’s looking for someone “with the same kind of capacity” as Justice Breyer pic.twitter.com/pNYLrLVSBR
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) February 10, 2022
In-person meetings and interviews to begin next week
That wasn’t the only clue offered up on Thursday about President Biden’s search for a Supreme Court nominee, as ABC News reported that the president informed Senate Democrats that he planned to begin meeting in person with prospective candidates starting next week.
That bit of information emerged following a Thursday afternoon White House meeting involving President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
According to a readout of that meeting, “there are a wealth of extraordinarily qualified potential nominees under consideration who are dedicated to the Constitution and the rule of law, with top-rate legal intellects, and the strongest credentials, records, and character any person could possess. And that based on these qualities, any of the candidates being reviewed would be deserving of bipartisan support.”
As for the identities of the women on Biden’s narrowed list, while that remains unclear, ABC noted that there is a consensus among court watchers on who at least three of the likely frontrunners are — D.C. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, and South Carolina’s U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs.
