President Biden has chosen a Supreme Court nominee, two sources familiar with the process told CBS News on Thursday night. Mr. Biden had pledged to announce his nominee by the end of the month, and the White House has said he’s still on track to do so.
It’s not yet clear who Mr. Biden has chosen, or when he will make the announcement. Earlier this week, sources confirmed to CBS News that the president had interviewed three possible nominees to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer: Ketanji Brown Jackson, Michelle Childs and Leondra Kruger. The sources did not say when or where the interviews took place.
Jackson is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Kruger sits on the California Supreme Court, and Childs is a federal district court judge based in Columbia, South Carolina.
During his presidential campaign, Mr. Biden vowed to select an African American woman to serve on the high court, arguing such a nomination is long overdue.
“The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity,” Mr. Biden said last month. “And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue, in my view. I made that commitment during the campaign for president, and I will keep that commitment.”
Breyer announced his plan to retire last month after serving 28 years on the nation’s highest court.
Democrats hope to confirm the president’s pick swiftly in the Senate. If they succeed, this will be the first confirmation of a Biden Supreme Court nominee, and the fourth confirmed nominee in only four years. Three conservative-leaning justices were confirmed under former President Trump.
The president’s selection is not anticipated to upset the ideological balance of the court.
The White House has insisted the president will announce his pick by the end of the month, despite Russia’s aggressive posture toward and subsequent attack on Ukraine. On Friday, the president is scheduled to meet with NATO heads of state in the morning and has no other public events.
Fin Gomez, Ed O’Keefe and Melissa Quinn contributed reporting.
