Biden tells senators he plans to begin interviewing Supreme Court finalists next week
President Biden still intends to announce his pick to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court by the end of the month and plans to begin interviewing finalists for the job next week, according to two people with direct knowledge of his plans.
The president met Thursday at the White House with Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, a panel he once chaired. The engagement lasted more than an hour but did not include a review of specific women under consideration for the post.
"He did not name names. He said he wasn't going to," said a participant in the meeting who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about it.
"There was unanimity that all of the names that we have seen would really garner a lot of support," said another participant.
Mr. Biden has promised to select an African American woman to serve on the high court, arguing such a nomination is long overdue. Top names said to be under consideration include Ketanji Brown Jackson, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger; Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, who sits on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago; and J. Michelle Childs, a federal district court judge based in Columbia, South Carolina.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, the president said he's "taken about four people and done the deep dive" of FBI background checks to "see if there's anything in the background that would make them not qualified."
"I'm not looking to make an ideological choice here, I'm looking for someone to replace [retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer] with the same kind of capacity Judge Breyer had, with an open mind, who understands the Constitution, interprets it in a way that is consistent with the mainstream interpretation of the Constitution," the president said.
Vice President Harris, another former member of the Judiciary panel, also attended the meeting with senators. The White House said late Thursday that the president and vice president told the senators "that there are a wealth of extraordinarily qualified potential nominees under consideration who are dedicated to the Constitution and the rule of law, with top-rate legal intellects, and the strongest credentials, records, and character any person could possess. And that based on these qualities, any of the candidates being reviewed would be deserving of bipartisan support."
The senators emphasized an "urgency" to quickly confirm the president's choice, with the goal of maintaining a swift pace similar to the October 2020 confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, according to the first participant in the meeting.
"We're anxious to get started," Senator Richard Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who serves as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters outside the White House after the meeting.
Every Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee except Dianne Feinstein attended the meeting in the Roosevelt Room, according to the participants.
In anticipation of the president's decision, former Alabama Democratic Senator Doug Jones officially started his temporary role as nomination advisor, or "Sherpa" for the Supreme Court nominee earlier this week. Jones will oversee the nominee's preparations for her confirmation hearing and the schedule of meetings with senators.