Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee will receive a “prompt hearing” in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Schumer issued a statement after it was reported that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is planning on retiring.
“For virtually his entire adult life, including a quarter century on the U.S. Supreme Court, Stephen Breyer has served his country with the highest possible distinction. He is, and always has been, a model jurist. He embodies the best qualities and highest ideals of American justice; knowledge, wisdom, fairness, humility, restraint,” Schumer said.
He added, “His work and his decisions as an Associate Justice on the biggest issues of our time – including voting rights, the environment, women’s reproductive freedom, and most recently, health care and the Affordable Care Act – were hugely consequential. America owes Justice Breyer an enormous debt of gratitude.”
Concluding his statement, Schumer said, “President Biden’s nominee will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and will be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed.”
President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed. pic.twitter.com/mUT8GSUHzi
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 26, 2022
Breyer told NPR in September he does not “want to stay on the Supreme Court until I die.”
Additionally, he previously told the outlet his decision on when he would retire “has many complex parts to it. I think I am aware of most of them and will consider them.”
During a Democratic primary debate in February 2020, Biden vowed to nominate the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice.
“We talked about the Supreme Court — I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court to make sure we in fact get everyone represented,” Biden said.
According to NPR, the top contenders for the position appear to be federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger.
