With a freshly stoked fire roaring in the fireplace behind him, President Joe Biden welcomed into the Oval Office Tuesday two of the most powerful Senators charged with considering his pick for Supreme Court. “We’re different parties, but two good friends,” Biden said, gesturing toward the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and his fellow Democrat, committee chair Dick Durbin of Illinois. “We’ve done an awful lot of Supreme Court Justices together,” Biden said, referring to his own history as a leading Senator on the committee.
But Biden’s never gone through the grueling Supreme Court nomination process—which has been particularly divisive in recent years—from this end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Biden pointed to a line in Article II of the Constitution that instructs the President to nominate Justices “with the advice and consent” of the Senate. “I’m serious when I say it,” Biden said, “I want the advice of the Senate as well as the consent.”
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He won’t find himself short on advice. Biden has pledged to nominate a Black woman to fill retiring Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat. Already, powerful South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn, whose endorsement in 2020 helped Biden secure the Democratic nomination for President, and Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, have begun pressuring Biden to nominate a District Court judge from their state, J. Michelle Childs. Others have floated the candidacies of D.C. Circuit Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger. Right now, the President is considering 10 candidates, according to a source familiar with the White House vetting process.
How Biden handles his first Supreme Court nomination—which he’s called one of a President’s “most serious constitutional responsibilities”—could prove crucial to his political future. His pick to replace Breyer will likely ensure that seat…
Source : time
