Biden to nominate black woman for Supreme Court
Created: 2022-01-27Updated: 2022-01-27 8:31 p.m
US President Joe Biden and Stephen Breyer (l), who will retire from the Supreme Court.
© Andrew Harnik/AP/dpa
Appointing judges on the Supreme Court is one of the most important privileges of US Presidents.
Biden is now getting his first chance - and wants to make history.
Washington – After the announced resignation of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, US President Joe Biden wants to nominate a black woman for the post on the US Supreme Court for the first time.
"I think that's long overdue," Biden said Thursday at the White House.
He hasn't made a decision yet, but wants to announce the nomination before the end of February.
His candidate will be a person with "outstanding qualifications".
Biden expressed "the gratitude of the nation" to Judge Breyer, 83, saying, "He is an exemplary public servant at a time of great division in this country."
With its decisions on particularly controversial issues such as abortion, immigration or same-sex marriages, the US Supreme Court repeatedly sets the course for society.
The nine judges are appointed for life.
Their selection is therefore a highly competitive political process.
Breyer's departure allows Biden to fill a seat on the politically contested Supreme Court for the first time since taking office. The Senate must approve Biden's nomination. Biden's Democrats have a slim majority in the House of Representatives, but they could lose it to Republicans in November's congressional elections.
The personnel does not change the conservative majority at the court, but is politically of great importance.
Ex-President Donald Trump and his Senate Republicans were able to place three Supreme Court justices during Trump's tenure, which is why six of the nine justices are currently considered conservative.
Breyer - currently the oldest of the nine judges - is attributed to the liberal camp.
He appreciates the compromise, is considered a moderate mediator, but leans more to the left.
He was once nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Currently, Clarence Thomas is an African American and Sonia Sotomayor is a Latina on the Supreme Court. Biden had already promised during the election campaign that if there was a vacancy, for the first time in history he would nominate a black woman as a judge on the Supreme Court. With his personnel policy, Biden wants to ensure that the heads of the institutions also reflect the ethnic diversity and the diversity of the United States. According to official statistics, blacks make up a good 13 percent of the population there.
Breyer officially announced on Thursday that he would retire by the summer after nearly 28 years on the Supreme Court.
In a letter to Biden published by the court, the judge said he was assuming that a successor would be nominated and confirmed by the Supreme Court’s summer recess in late June or early July.
It was "a great honor" for him to work as a judge to ensure that the constitution and the rule of law were upheld.
The Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, has already announced that as soon as Biden is nominated, a hearing will be scheduled “immediately” in the Judiciary Committee.
The chamber will examine and confirm the personnel at the appropriate pace.
All Biden's Democrats need in the Senate is a simple majority, which they can get if they act as one.
On other issues, the unity of the Democrats in the Senate was very weak.
However, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham wrote on Twitter that he expects the Democrats to stand together on this person.
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Senate Republican leader MitchMcConnell thanked Breyer for his services.
At the same time, McConnell appealed to Biden to nominate a candidate from the center.
"The president must not outsource this important decision to the radical left," said the top Republican.
"The American people deserve a candidate who respects the written text of our laws and our Constitution."