An Illinois Senator is defending President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer announced he would be resigning at summer recess in late June after 28 years on the court.
Senator Dick Durbin, who is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dismissed Republicans objections that it’s an affirmative action quota or a race and gender litmus test.
Durbin says Biden is simply following other past presidents, including Republican presidents: “I would remind [Republicans] to take a look back at history and recall that it was Ronald Reagan who announced that he was going to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, and he did – Sandra Day O’Connor. And it was Donald Trump who announced that he was going to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a woman nominee, as well. So, this is not the first time that a president has signaled what they are looking for in a nominee.”
Durbin, who will oversee the confirmation process, declined to comment on which of Biden’s nominees he personally favored.
National media has speculated that the list of potential nominees include: U.S. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner – the sister of Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams – and U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs, the choice floated to the president by Democrat House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.
Durbin says his committee will be ready to act quickly with hearings once the pick has been made.