President Joe Biden will interview prospective Supreme Court nominees over the next two weeks before naming a finalist by February’s end, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.
Biden has pledged to nominate a black woman to the court, with U.S. Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the D.C. Circuit, South Carolina-based U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs, and California Supreme Court Associate Justice Leondra Kruger rumored to be front-runners in the race to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
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“We’re not going to give day-to-day updates from here moving forward,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki when asked about the interview process. “What I can confirm for you is we’re still on track for the president to make a decision and make an announcement before the end of the month, which is in two weeks. He will do some interviews in the next two weeks.”
Deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that Russia-Ukraine tensions would not slow down the nomination process.
Biden has not spoken directly to any of the four women on his short list, according to Jean-Pierre, but he has discussed them with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and legal experts.
Biden said last week he’d done a deep dive of thorough background checks on “about four people.”
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“Whomever I pick will get a vote from [the] Republican side for the following reason: I’m not looking to make an ideological choice here,” he said.
