Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is being considered as a possible replacement for Justice Stephen Breyer
Translate This News In

With Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement at the conclusion of this term, one name continues climbing to the top of the list of prospective replacements: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Jackson is a Harvard Law graduate who served as a clerk to Breyer from 1999 to 2000 and interviewed with former President Barack Obama for former Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacancy in 2016. Jackson was nominated by President Joe Biden to replace Merrick Garland on the high-profile D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals when he chose Garland for attorney general.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the most significant federal court in the country, second only to the Supreme Court, with jurisdiction over matters involving Congress and executive branch agencies.

READ:   The "Beautiful" Details of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's Surprise Las Vegas Wedding are Inside

Biden, who has stated that he would select the first African American woman to the Supreme Court because the court should “look like the country,” would be able to fulfill that pledge if Jackson were nominated. There has never been a Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court.

Judge Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court, Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner of the United States District Court for the District of Georgia, and Judge J. Michelle Childs of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina are among the other top prospects.

According to two Democratic aides familiar with the matter, once Biden nominates a replacement, Senate Democrats intend to not only hold a confirmation hearing quickly – Justice Amy Coney Barrett had her first hearing 13 days after former President Donald Trump nominated her – but also to hold those proceedings while Breyer is still on the bench.

READ:   Passionate Romance:The Untold Love Story of Elvis and Priscilla Presley

Jackson is one of six Black female circuit court judges now sitting and was the first Black woman confirmed to an appeal court in a decade. She is also one of only 39 current Black female federal judges in a field of 793.