Biden interviews trio of candidates for Supreme Court

President Joe Biden has interviewed at least three candidates for the Supreme Court

APTOPIX Biden (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

President Joe Biden has interviewed at least three candidates for the Supreme Court, according to a person familiar with the matter, and the White House reiterated Tuesday that he remains on track to make a final selection by Monday.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden has not made a decision on whom to nominate. But the president has interviewed judges Ketanji Brown Jackson, J. Michelle Childs and Leondra Kruger, according to a person familiar with the matter. A second person familiar said Biden had interviewed at least two candidates for the post. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the internal process.

Biden has pledged to nominate the first Black woman to the high court by the end of the month to fill the vacancy being created by the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer. It was not clear whether any additional candidates have been interviewed by the president.

Psaki declined to discuss whether Biden had conducted interviews but insisted the president was “on track” to make the selection despite rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Jackson was nominated by President Barack Obama to be a district court judge. Biden elevated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Early in her career, she was also a law clerk for Breyer.

Childs, a federal judge in South Carolina, has been nominated but not yet confirmed to serve on the same circuit court. Her name has surfaced partly because she is a favorite among some high-profile lawmakers, including Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.

Kruger, a graduate of Harvard and Yale’s law school, was previously a Supreme Court clerk and has argued a dozen cases before the justices as a lawyer for the federal government before becoming a justice on the California Supreme Court.