President Joe Biden will name his first nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court before the end of February, just in time for his March 1 State of the Union address. The timing will allow Republicans attending the event the opportunity to be televised live nationwide refusing to stand and applaud for the first Black woman who will sit on the nation’s highest court.
Speaking on MSNBC, Punchbowl News co-founder Jake Sherman reports President Biden will announce his nominee no later than Monday. Sherman noted the President is expected to use his State of the Union address to further promote the nominee, who Repubicans have reflexively opposed without her even having been named.
Republicans for weeks have insisted President Biden fulfilling his campaign promise to place the first Black woman on the Supreme Court is “racist” and exclusionary, despite other presidents including Republican Ronald Reagan’s promise to nominate the first woman to the Court.
Americans watching the State of the Union one week from tonight will likely be able to see deeply entrenched Republican opposition to the nominee. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Sunday declared President Biden deciding to choose a Black woman is “racial discrimination” and would be “illegal” if anyone else were to hire based on race in the private sector.
The federal government is not the private sector, and the fact that a Black woman has never sat on the U.S. Supreme Court in nearly 250 years is in effect racial discrimination.
Last week NBC News reported, “Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin says he’d like to get President Biden‘s Supreme Court nominee confirmed by April 9.”