White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday President Joe Biden wouldn’t “be swayed” by lawmakers’ and lobbying groups’ recommendations over his forthcoming Supreme Court nominee to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.
“He is not going to be swayed by public campaigns or public sniping or lobbying efforts,” Psaki said, also defending the administration’s prior confirmation that South Carolina federal judge J. Michelle Childs is one of at least four contenders Biden is mulling as a potential nominee.
“[Biden] is going to keep his blinders on, look at the qualifications, the cases, the backgrounds, the credentials of these eminently qualified nominees,” Psaki said. “All of the ones he is considering would make excellent, qualified Supreme Court justices.”
WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS POTENTIAL SUPREME COURT NOMINEE CHILDS
The president has vowed to nominate a black woman to succeed Breyer before the end of this month, which has led many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to speak up about their preferred candidates as Biden inches closer to making a final selection.
During Biden’s 2020 campaign, he earned the endorsement of Democratic House Majority Whip James Clyburn following his pledge to nominate the first black woman to the highest court. Since then, Clyburn has urged the White House to consider Childs as a nominee, prompting praise from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee) for her reputation as being one of the most centrist contenders among the president’s selection pool.
Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin has been in talks with GOP lawmakers since late last month in an effort to investigate which Republican senators he believes would be willing to vote for Biden’s nominee, saying a bipartisan vote “is not only good for the Supreme Court, but it’s good for the Senate.”
Graham (along with GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski) has maintained a track record of voting for at least 60% of Biden’s judicial nominees since taking office in January 2021, though it remains to be seen whether the three senators would cast a vote in favor of Biden’s Supreme Court pick.
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While the White House has not named other possible nominees for the Supreme Court, it is widely speculated that U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger are up for consideration to succeed Breyer.
Biden will interview prospective Supreme Court nominees over the next two weeks before naming a finalist by February’s end, White House officials said Tuesday.
