WASHINGTON (WWL) — President Joe Biden has picked a Supreme Court nominee and is likely to announce his selection on Friday, according to sources.
The president has promised to name the first Black woman to the court, and has reportedly chosen Ketanji Brown Jackson, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Jackson accepted the president's offer to be his nominee in a call Thursday night, according to CNN.
The White House declined to comment on the president's decision.
Jackson would be the current court's second Black justice — Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, is the other — and just the third in history, according to the Associated Press. She would also be only the sixth woman to serve on the court, and her confirmation would mean that for the first time four women would sit together on the nine-member court.
Jackson's nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority by a razor-thin 50-50 margin with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker, the AP reported.
Biden has interviewed at least three candidates for the job: Jackson, a federal appeals judge who has a background as a public defender; Judge J. Michelle Childs, a federal judge in South Carolina; and Leondra Kruger, a justice on the California Supreme Court, The Washington Post reported.
"I'm more excited than ever by the increasing indications that the nominee is going to be one of several really stupendously qualified Black women who are going to make the nation proud with their compelling life story and great qualifications," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Post.
The nominee will replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who announced his retirement last month after more than 27 years on the bench. He was appointed in 1994 by former President Bill Clinton.
The court's new term begins on Oct. 3.
