President Biden will meet Tuesday with the top two lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss replacing retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
The president will convene with Sens. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat and the panel chairman, and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the committee’s ranking Republican. The influential panel oversees the Supreme Court confirmation process, including holding hearings.
“Chairman Durbin has worked on seven Supreme Court confirmation processes. The president has also worked for many years with Sen. Grassley and respects his knowledge and views,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday.
Ms. Psaki also said the meetings are part of the president’s formal “advice” phase of his search for a Supreme Court pick, adding that there will be more meetings later this week.
Mr. Biden is expected to convene with lawmakers from both parties, Vice President Kamala Harris and legal scholars as he mulls whom to nominate to replace Justice Breyer.
He said last week that he intends to name a replacement by the end of February and vowed a “rigorous” selection process. He had vowed during the 2020 presidential campaign to pick a Black woman, a promise he has said in the past week will be kept.
Top candidates to replace Justice Breyer include federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was confirmed in June to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger.
Other likely contenders for the lifetime appointment are U.S. District Judges J. Michelle Childs (South Carolina), Wilhelmina Wright (Minnesota) and Leslie Abrams Gardner (Georgia), and Sherrilyn Ifill, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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