On Wednesday, US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer shocked the legal world by announcing that he will retire, providing President Biden with the golden opportunity to put his personal stamp on the high court and name a replacement.
Politics
The moderately liberal 83-year-old Breyer has served more than 2 decades on the Supreme Court. He will step down this summer while Democrats are still in control of The White House and both houses of Congress.
The announcement from Justice Stephen Breyer is a gift to Democrats who watched Donald Trump name 3 ultra-conservative justices to the high court. It’s also a gift to African-Americans and women, since President Biden is on record as saying he would name a Black female to the Supreme Court if given the opportunity.
The two leading contenders said to be on Mr. Biden’s shortlist include federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (who was on President Barack Obama’s shortlist for the court in 2016), as well as California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger.
At 51, Judge Jackson was elevated last year to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which is considered the second-most powerful federal court in the country. She previously served in the federal district court in DC and was once an assistant federal public defender. Interestingly, she was also a clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer and holds degrees from Harvard and Harvard Law School.
At 45, Judge Kruger once worked as a clerk for the late Justice John Paul Stevens and served as acting deputy solicitor general during the Obama administration. While in the Solicitor General’s office, she argued 12 cases in front of the Supreme Court (representing the government) and also earned the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the department’s highest award for employee performance, in 2013 and 2014.
Whomever President Biden picks will need to gain the support of all 50 Democratic senators in order to be confirmed. Assuming that all 50 Republican senators will block any Biden nominee, Vice-President Harris would need to break the tie to assure Mr. Biden’s pick gets confirmed.
Beyer is doing what Ruth Bader Ginsberg should have done and that is leave before Repubs get back power. Hopefully Repubs do not try to delay whoever Biden chooses until they maybe get back the senate.