With the formal announcement of the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, President Joseph Biden has vowed to move quickly to name a Supreme Court Justice Candidate, and in all likelihood, it will be a Black woman.
Referring to Breyer as a model public servant who served our country well, Biden expressed his desire to nominate a new justice who stands worthy of Justice Breyer’s legacy. Breyer, who is 83, is the second most senior associate justice and, according to several reports, he was encouraged to retire during this season in order to ensure that a Biden nominee would pass in a Senate presently controlled by the Democrats.
Almost three decades ago, it was Biden, then chair of the Senate’s judiciary committee, who presided over the confirmation of Stephen Breyer, who was nominated to the high court by President Bill Clinton. Now the president is set to name a Supreme Court Justice Candidate in hopes that this pick will be history-making, appointing the first Black woman to the US Supreme court in fulfillment of a campaign pledge.
The president is tight-lipped about who he will pick, but has already begun to review bios and is studying the background of candidates. The New York Christian Times has identified a list of female contenders.
Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51
US Court of Appeals for District of Columbia
Appointed by President Obama to the US District Court, District of Columbia
Clerked for retiring Justice Stephen Breyer
Graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School
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Leondra Kruger, 45
Professor of Law
Serves on the California Supreme Court
Worked in high-level roles at Justice Department
Clerked for former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens
Graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School
J. Michelle Childs, 55
US District Court Judge (South Carolina)
Recently appointed to the Federal Appeals Court
Former state trial court judge
Graduate of the University of South Florida and University of South Carolina School of Law
Leslie Abrams Gardner, 47
Sister of Georgia’s political powerhouse Stacey Abrams
A federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama to the US District Court in Georgia
Former assistant US Attorney General
Graduate of both Brown University and Yale Law School
Sherrilyn Ifill, 59
A member of President Joe Biden’s bipartisan commission on judicial reform
President of NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Voting rights and judicial appointments commentator
Graduate of Vassar College and NYU Law School
Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, 43
US Circuit Court of Appeals
Served with the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder
Staff attorney with Federal Defense Program (North District – Illinois)
Graduate of Yale Law School
Christian Times Picks …
#1 – J. Michelle Childs
#2 – Ketanji Brown Jackson
#3 – Leslie Abrams Gardner
SECONDARY CONTENDERS
Nancy Abudu – Strategic Litigation Director, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
Tiffany Cunningham – US Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Anita Earls – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina
Arianna Freeman – Managing Attorney of the Non-Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Eunice Lee – United States Circuit Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Melissa Murray – Frederick K. Grace Stokes Professor of Law at New York University
Holly Thomas – US Circuit Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Wilhelmina Wright – US District Judge of the US District Court for the District of Minnesota
