President Biden has not named his choice to fill Stephen Breyer’s vacancy on the Supreme Court, but the first major talking point against her has already emerged: She is the unqualified product of affirmative action.

“Biden has unwisely limited his options by preemptively declaring during the 2020 campaign that his first Supreme Court nominee would be a black woman,” editorializes National Review. “In a stroke, he disqualified dozens of liberal and progressive jurists for no reason other than their race and gender. This is not a great start in selecting someone sworn to provide equal justice under the law.”

The Wall Street Journal editorial page clucks, “Mr. Biden’s campaign promise that he’d appoint a black woman to the Supreme Court is unfortunate because it elevates skin color over qualifications.” Cato’s Ilya Shapiro complained, before deleting the tweet, “Because Biden said he’s only consider black women for SCOTUS, his nominee will always have an asterisk attached.” Even grosser versions of the same basic idea are already emanating from the likes of Tucker Carlson.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/biden-supreme-court-breyer-black-woman-qualified-ketanji-brown-jackson.html

If President Joe Biden’s nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is confirmed, it will be only the fifth time that a Democratic president has added a member to the Court since Lyndon Johnson. That’s right — the roster of Democratic-nominated Supreme Court justices during the last ten presidencies is short: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, by Bill Clinton; and Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, by Barack Obama. To date, these Democratic-nominated justices have served a total of 67 years on the Court. During the same time frame, there have been 15 Supreme Court justices nominated by Republican presidents, serving a total (to date) of 292 years.

This lopsided record is partially, of course, attributable to Republican success in presidential elections since 1968. And Obama nominee Merrick Garland’s non-confirmation was a matter of partisan malice; Mitch McConnell, who controlled the Senate at the time, denied him even a confirmation hearing. Other whiffs involved bad luck. In his one term as president, Donald Trump had the opportunity to name three justices (Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett). In his one term, George H.W. Bush named two justices. One of them, David Souter, served for 19 years. The other, Clarence Thomas, is still on the Court 13 years after Bush’s son left the White House. Yet Democrat Jimmy Carter had not a single Supreme Court appointment. Barring something unforeseen, Joe Biden should at least avoid that fate.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/01/democrats-are-playing-catch-up-on-supreme-court-nominations.html?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=f1&utm_campaign=feed-part

WASHINGTON — Many progressives expect federal appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to shoot to the top of the short list of possible Supreme Court nominees after Justice Stephen Breyer's impending retirement.

As a candidate in 2020, President Joe Biden promised to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court for the first time in U.S. history. Jackson is seen in Democratic circles as a short-lister — if not a front-runner — for the nomination.

Biden has already given Jackson a vote of confidence. Last year, he elevated her to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which is considered one of the most important federal panels and has been a regular feeder to the Supreme Court.

The Senate confirmed Jackson, a Harvard Law School graduate, to the D.C. Circuit in June by a vote of 53-44, with the support of all 50 Democratic-voting senators and three Republicans: Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/who-ketanji-brown-jackson-likely-biden-short-lister-supreme-court-n1288053