NBC News and other outlets reported that President Joe Biden is expected to announce Friday that he will nominate federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
NBC reported that Biden made a decision on who to nominate by Thursday night.
The president had promised to pick a black woman to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who plans to retire at the end of the court's current term. As a presidential candidate, Biden made that promise.
Five women have served on the Supreme Court. Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas are the only two black men who have ever been appointed to the bench. Black women have never sat on the high court.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that no job offer had been made and that Biden had still not made a decision.
We are still on track to make an announcement before the end of the month, as Biden had promised, while noting that we have to do a lot of things around here at the same time.
The president has been deeply involved in managing the crisis over Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.
Jackson was confirmed last year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. All 50 Democrats supported Brown, along with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Lisa Murkowski.
Jackson's judicial record has been praised by progressives.
Biden was considering South Carolina federal Judge J. Childs and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger until the final days of the selection process, according to multiple outlets.
The Democrats have enough power to confirm Biden's Supreme Court pick without any GOP votes because of the 50-50 split in the Senate. If required, the Vice President would break the tie.
The news that Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. had suffered a stroke clouded the narrow majority.
Within two weeks, Lujan released a video assuring that he would make a full recovery and return to the Senate to vote on Biden's nominee.
This is breaking news. You can check back for updates.
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