Biden tells advisers he’s picked his Supreme Court nominee

WASHINGTON — President Biden told his advisers he had chosen a Supreme Court nominee Thursday, according to two people familiar with the selection process.

The president’s decision ended a month-long search to replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the dean of the three-member liberal wing of the court, who announced in January that he would retire at the end of the tribunal’s current term this summer, once his successor is in place.

Mr. Biden is under pressure to announce his selection, which he has promised will be a black woman, somewhere between the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and his first State of the Union address. scheduled for Tuesday. The White House has not commented on its decision, which CNN reported earlier.

An announcement could come as soon as Friday, but Biden advisers have said it could take until the end of the month, which is Monday. On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris canceled a previously planned trip to Louisiana, although advisers to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris said that was at least in part because she and Mr. Biden would focus on Russia for part of the day. Mr Biden is due to meet other NATO heads of state virtually on Friday morning.

Earlier Thursday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters that the president had not made a “final, definitive” decision on the nominee. People familiar with Mr. Biden’s decision did not say Thursday night whether he had made an offer to the person he had chosen.

Beginning late last week, Mr Biden held talks with three candidates who had long been on his shortlist. He spoke with Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksonwho won the support of three Republican senators when Mr. Biden elevated her to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

He also interviewed Leondra R. Kruger of the California Supreme Court, a former Supreme Court clerk whose Yale Law pedigree is shared by four of the current justices.

The President also spoke with J. Michelle Childsa federal district court judge in South Carolina, a state whose black voters Mr. Biden credited with helping him win the presidency.

While confirming the nominee wouldn’t change the court’s ideological balance — Republican-appointed conservatives would retain their 6-3 majority — it would be another first: All three justices appointed by Democratic presidents would be women.