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Joe Biden to nominate first black woman for US Supreme Court Justice

During the election campaign, US President Joe Biden promised to nominate a black woman for the powerful Supreme Court for the first time. Now he could get the chance to keep his promise.

A premiere could soon be forthcoming for US President Joe Biden. After the news broke on Wednesday that the liberal constitutional judge Stephen Breyer would be retiring, the choice of a successor fell into Biden’s hands. According to media reports, Breyer, who at the age of 83 is the oldest judge on the Supreme Court, intends to leave office at the end of the current court year in June.

This gives Biden a chance to fulfill one of his campaign promises and appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court for the first time in history. When asked by journalists, Biden has so far not wanted to reveal a name. “There was no announcement from Judge Breyer,” the President said. “Let’s let him make whatever statement he wants to make and then I’m happy to talk about it.” However, his spokeswoman Jen Psaki emphasized that the president stood by his promise to nominate an African American woman for the first time.

Federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Leondra R. Kruger of the California Supreme Court and US District Judge J. Michelle Childs are considered Biden’s favorites.

Joe Biden’s favorites: Jackson, Kruger and Childs

The best opportunities can presently Ketanji Brown Jackson calculate. The 51-year-old Harvard graduate was first made a district judge by Obama and eventually promoted to the Washington DC Court of Appeals by Biden. In the meantime, she herself was already working for the now retiring constitutional judge Breyer. Jackson has made a name for herself in the past by ruling against former US President Donald Trump in several high-profile cases. Just in December, the judge paved the way for the release of classified government documents to the Capitol Storm Special Committee.

Also the 45 year old Leondra R. Kruger meets all qualifications for a Supreme Court nominee. After studying law at Yale University, she worked for well-known law firms, the Department of Justice and for former Chief Justice John Paul Stevens. In 2014, she was called to the Supreme Court by then-California Gov. Jerry Brown. Legal experts describe Kruger’s way of working as “cautious and considered” – their approach reflects the fact “that we work in a system of precedent”.

The third potential contender, Julianna Michelle Childs, could benefit from being an outsider. Unlike Jackson and Kruger, the 55-year-old judge does not have an Ivy League degree, but was recently nominated by Biden for an appeals court. Childs also has strong supporters in Congress, such as Democratic Rep. James Clyburn. During the election campaign, Clyburn suggested Biden to nominate Childs if the worst came to the worst – also because she comes from a classic working-class family, another underrepresented group on the Supreme Court.

The Democrats’ last chance before the congressional elections

For Biden’s Democrats, Breyer’s departure is a long-awaited ray of hope in the dark January days between corona chaos and defeats in the US Senate. For months, the 28-year judge had been pushed behind the scenes to retire. Because of the currently weak poll numbers, many Democrats fear losing their wafer-thin Senate majority in the congressional elections in the fall.

Should Breyer resign due to illness in the years that followed, the Democrats would no longer have a majority to confirm a Biden-nominated successor. The Republicans could therefore block any candidate and hope to fill the vacancy themselves after the presidential election – similar to the case of the late left-wing icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Historic moment for black women

One thing is certain: no matter which successor US President Biden chooses, his election will not change the majority in the Supreme Court. The conservative camp currently has a clear majority of six of the nine judges on the Supreme Court. This skew was last noticeable two weeks ago, when the court blocked the vaccination or testing requirement for large companies imposed by Biden – and thus dealt the president a serious defeat.

But Biden’s historic promise to put a black woman on the powerful judge’s post has another clout. In 1975, the first black woman became a federal appeals court judge. By the time Biden took office, more than 40 years later, only seven others had held such office. “If you just look at the raw numbers, this is a revealing and sobering statistic,” said Leslie Davis, executive director of the National Association of Minority and Women-Owned Law Firms. “It makes it clear that we have to do better.”

US President Biden wants to do better because he hopes his diverse government will be a core part of his legacy. Alongside Kamala Harris, who became the first black woman to serve as vice president at his side, Biden has filled half of all federal circuit court seats with black women – as many US presidents before him combined.

Sources: “”, “”, “”, with AFP material

Source From: Stern

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