NNPA Newswire
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Black women stood on the frontlines to help push President Joe Biden over the top in the 2020 election.
As the nation awaits word on whom the President nominates to fill the newly vacant Supreme Court seat, there’s little debate whether an African American woman will be that pick.
Out of the 115 U.S. Supreme Court Justices in history, there have been just two African Americans, one Latina, and only five women.
Among the few remaining questions is whether that individual will deliver progress on a high court that will maintain its 6-3 conservative advantage.
“As a longtime advocate for Diversity and Inclusion at the highest levels of leadership in our nation, I am looking forward to the President’s appointment of a highly-qualified and experienced jurist to our nation’s highest court,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio).
“We know that when America’s boardrooms, legislatures, and even the Supreme Court start to resemble America, we all benefit,” Beatty stated.
“I will continue to push in my capacity as a member of Congress and Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus to ensure that the President upholds his promise to the American people and that the Senate confirms a Black woman to the Supreme Court without any unnecessary delay.”
The White House confirmed the candidacy of South Carolina U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs.
In a statement, the White House said “multiple individuals” are under consideration along with Judge Childs.
DC Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, and civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill count among those under consideration.
Others reportedly being considered include 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Holly A. Thomas, federal Circuit Court Judge Tiffany P. Cunningham, civil rights attorney and 11th Circuit Court candidate Nancy G. Abudu, 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Arianna J. Freeman, NYU law professor Melissa Murray, 7th Circuit Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, District Judge Wilhelmina “Mimi” Wright, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, and 2nd Circuit Judge Eunice Lee.
President Biden said he would make his selection by the end of February.
“Our process is going to be rigorous. I will select a nominee worthy of Justice Stephen Breyer’s legacy of excellence and decency,” the President said.
“While I’ve been studying candidates’ backgrounds and writings, I’ve made no decision except one: The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court
Last week, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the senior liberal wing member, announced his retirement from the White House. Breyer is the oldest member of the court, Justice Breyer, 83, was appointed in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.
Following two appointees by former President Donald Trump, the court spun into conservative control, making President Biden’s upcoming pick more vital.
But Democrats must act fast with the midterm elections fast approaching, and Republicans could seize control of the Senate and block a Biden appointment.
“This is a big moment in the making,” Ben Jealous, the former NAACP leader and current president of People for the American Way, said recently.
“The presumption is that whomever Biden nominates, the first Black woman to the Supreme Court would be filling both the shoes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall,” Jealous asserted.
Daniel L Goldberg, legal director of the progressive Alliance For Justice, has said a Black woman on the Supreme Court was long overdue.
“It is stunning that in the entire history of the republic, that no African American woman has sat on the highest court in the country,” Goldberg said. “For way too long in our nation’s history, the only people who were considered suitable and qualified for the court happened to be white males.”