The Honorable Stephen G. Breyer, who, at 83 years old, is currently the oldest justice on the Supreme Court, officially announced his decision to retire on Thursday, January 27. In response, President Biden issued a farewell address where he expressed his gratitude for all of Justice Breyer’s years of service for his country. As the justice has announced his retirement, the current president has inherited the duty of replacing him. To quell any doubts about his decision, the president has made his stance clear in regards to what kind of person he wants to nominate for the position. He has said, “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.”
Joe Biden first made this promise as a presidential candidate in the February of 2020, when he said, “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court to make sure we in fact get everyone represented.” He said this during a debate that took place a few days before the South Carolina democratic primaries. This promise, as well as his other standpoints, helped him gain critical support to win the state of South Carolina, a critical victory in his bid for president. He reiterated this promise while on the campaign trail, and as president. Now, he intends to keep this promise.
This promise has many staunch supporters, as well as critics. Representative Clyburn, the U.S. representative of South Carolina’s sixth district and current majority whip, sums up many supportive viewpoints with the statement: “this is an issue that is simmering in the African-American community [where] Black women think they have as much right to sit on the Supreme Court as any other women, and up to [this] point none [have] been considered.” Senator Ted Cruz, the junior U.S. senator for Texas, is one of many who have taken a more critical stance on this issue, and he says: “It’s actually an insult to Black women . . . If [Joe Biden] came and said ‘I’m going to put the best jurist on the court’ and he looked at a number of people and he ended up nominating a Black woman, he could credibly say ‘OK, I’m nominating the person who’s most qualified.’ He’s not even pretending to say that.”
The history of presidents and their decisions for supreme court justices provide some examples of similar promises and states of mind that various presidents have exhibited. In 1980, before he became president, Ronald Reagan said that he would nominate a woman to "one of the first Supreme Court vacancies in [his] administration." He also said that “it [was] time for a woman to sit among our highest jurists.” He fulfilled this promise by nominating Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first woman to serve as a supreme court justice. Another well documented public declaration occurred when President Donald J. Trump said, “I will be putting forth a nominee next week . . . it will be a woman, a very talented, very brilliant woman. I haven’t chosen yet, but we have numerous women on the list." He then chose Amy Coney Barrett to be the fifth woman to serve on the supreme court in its 232-year history.
There are a few individuals who are thought to have high chances of being nominated by the president. One is Judge J. Michelle Childs, justice for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of South Carolina, who has also been nominated for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She has been championed by Senator Lindsey Graham and Rep. James Clyburn, both of whom serve in the state of South Carolina. Another potential nominee is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and was on the former President Barack Obama's 2016 shortlist for the supreme court.
For the first 177 years in the supreme court’s history, only white men were considered for the position of supreme court justice. This streak ended with Thurgood Marshall’s confirmation 55 years ago. 14 years after this, the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, was confirmed. In Thurgood Marshall’s case, there was no public declaration that his race would be put into consideration. However, in Sandra Day O’Connor’s case, her gender was explicitly, and publically, considered. If Joe Biden’s nominee is confirmed, her race and her gender will have been explicitly considered, and she will be the first of 116 U.S. supreme court justices to be a Black woman. If that happens, we will be here to tell you about it.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.