All that’s left is for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to reveal the rhetoric he will use to try to stymie President Biden’s nominee to replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court. Breyer, 83, was to formally announce his retirement Thursday to commence with end of the current session June 30.
Still, Senate Democrats have a thin upper hand in the matter. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is said to plan a quick Senate approval process in the form of Republicans’ seating just before the November 2020 presidential election of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in roughly one month, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.
After word of Breyer’s impending retirement Wednesday, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, evoked the “elections have consequences” chant, saying Democrats “will have the power to replace Justice Breyer without one Republican vote in support,” according to the New York Post.
Democrats have been lobbying Breyer to retire while they have a majority, however thin, in the Senate. Breyer, who is otherwise known for his ability to push the court toward reaching consensus on major cases has been frustrated on that front over the past year, according to NPR’s Nina Totenberg.
Top candidates: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, is a former clerk to Breyer on the Supreme Court who was confirmed last June to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the D.C. Circuit. Jackson is a former federal public defender who would be the first defense attorney on a court with four former prosecutors, Totenberg noted on NPR’s All Things Considered.
California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger is a former Department of Justice official representing the government before SCOTUS as deputy solicitor general, according to The Washington Post. Kruger, 45, has the advantage, perhaps, of being appointed to the Justice Department during the administration of President George W. Bush, and stayed on during the Obama administration.
Either choice would fulfill Biden’s promise to appoint the first Black woman to SCOTUS.
Wacky Right-Wing scenario – Fox News first floated the following moderate conservative fantasy Wednesday, soon after repeated, seriously, by The Bulwark editor-at-large Bill Kristol: Court overturns Roe v. Wade June 30, Biden names Vice President Kamala Harris to replace Breyer, and names Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) her replacement.
The consequences: Given that people get lifetime appointments to the Court, were Jackson or Kruger to be approved and then stayed on the bench until they were 83, they would be there until 2054 or 2060, respectively.
BTW: Happy birthday to Chief Justice John Roberts, who turns 67 today.
--Todd Lassa and Gary S. Vasilash