According to two sources, President Joe Biden interviewed three finalists to fill the Supreme Court vacancy when Justice Stephen Breyer leaves later in the year.
Sources claim that Biden met with J. Michelle Childs and Ketanji Brown Jackson, federal judges. Leondra Kruger, California Supreme Court Justice, was also present.
The Washington Post, CNN reported details about Biden’s interview with the contenders on Tuesday.
Andrew Bates, Deputy White House Press Secretary, told NBC News Tuesday, that Biden “continues evaluation eminently qualified persons in the mold Justice Breyer who possess the strongest records and intellect, character, dedication to the rule law that anybody could ask for.”
Bates stated that all possible candidates “deserve bipartisan support.”
According to the White House, Biden, who was a presidential candidate , has made it clear that he will announce his decision by Monday. Biden will deliver his first State of the Union address next Tuesday.
Biden’s administration placed new sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, while fighting inflation in the home. This announcement comes at a difficult time. Many Democrats view the Senate confirmation of Biden’s nominee as an opportunity to rally support for the midterm elections in November.
Jackson was once a clerk for Breyer and was elected to the U.S. Senate in June. Circuit Court of Appeals, District of Columbia is a federal court that regularly has judges nominated for the Supreme Court.
Jackson was confirmed by the Senate with 53 votes to 44. All Democrats and three Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, and Lisa Murkowski in Alaska, supported her nomination.
Childs, a Judge on the U.S. District Court in Court South Carolina was the first person the Biden administration publicly identified in January as a possible nominee.
Childs is the House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who has been a loyal ally of Biden and played an important role in getting the president to promise he would nominate Black women.
In 2014, Kruger was unanimously elected to the California Supreme Court. Kruger was unanimously confirmed to the California Supreme Court in 2014.
Amanda Tyler, a University of California Berkeley law professor, stated that Kruger has shown a “consistent commitment to protecting civil liberties as well as to making our criminal justice system more fair and just.”
Breyer, aged 83, announced last week that he would resign at the end the current term of the Supreme Court. He is second in the longest tenure after Justice Clarence Thomas, with 27 years of service to the bench.
