▶ Watch Video: Biden makes decision on Supreme Court nominee
Update: CBS News has confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is President Biden’s pick. Read the latest here. Our earlier story is below.
President Biden is likely to announce his Supreme Court nominee selection Friday, and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is the frontrunner, CBS News has learned. Two sources familiar with the process told CBS News Thursday night that Mr. Biden had selected a nominee.
FILE: Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominated to be a US Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on pending judicial nominations on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on April 28, 2021.
TOM WILLIAMS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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.
Earlier this week, sources confirmed to CBS News that the president had interviewed three possible nominees to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer: Jackson, Michelle Childs and Leondra Kruger. Jackson is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
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, Melissa Quinn and Kathryn Watson contributed reporting.
