Biden promised before the South Carolina primary in 2020 — the moment he seized control of the race, thanks to black voters — and again at one of the last Democratic Party presidential primary debates that his first nominee for the Court would be a black woman.
Biden at 2/25/20 Democratic debate in Charleston promising to nominate a black woman to Supreme Court. (‘Not a joke.’) It was night before Clyburn endorsement; critical moment in Biden candidacy. https://t.co/1zNwyaogcI pic.twitter.com/7CO0VZOyLr
— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 26, 2022
Unlike Donald Trump, who provided a list of potential appointees when he ran for president in 2016, Biden did not specify who his choices might be. There was speculation about Justice Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court; and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is a district judge in Washington, D.C., but no firm commitments.
However, Harris, who served as District Attorney of San Francisco and California Attorney General before being elected to the U.S. Senate and then as Vice President, would provide another option with a long, if rather controversial, legal résumé.
Nominating Harris could also help Biden and the Democrats solve the problem posed by Harris’s unpopularity. Biden faces questions about his mental and physical abilities, raising doubts about his ability to run for reelection in 2024, or even to serve out his term. Harris is even more unpopular than Biden, however, making her an unpalatable replacement for Biden.
