Biden to meet with Durbin, Grassley on SCOTUS vacancy

President Biden will meet with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) at the White House on Tuesday to solicit their advice on the impending Supreme Court vacancy.  

Durbin chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Supreme Court confirmation process, and Grassley is the top Republican on the panel.

“Chairman Durbin has worked on seven Supreme Court confirmation processes. The president has also worked for many years with Sen. Grassley and respects his knowledge and views,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a briefing on Monday during which she announced the meeting.  

Biden is expected to solicit input from senators from both parties, as well as legal scholars, Vice President Harris and members of his team, as he decides whom to nominate to replace Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer when he retires at the end of the high court’s current term.  

Psaki signaled Monday there could be more meetings on the Supreme Court vacancy scheduled for later this week.  

Biden has pledged to nominate a Black woman, a first for the Supreme Court, to replace Breyer.  

He is considering several candidates for the position, though the White House has declined to discuss specifics. Biden said last week that he intends to choose his nominee by the end of February.  

“The president is working hard to choose from a wealth of deeply qualified candidates who bring to bear the strongest records, credentials and abilities that someone could have for this role,” Psaki said, noting that Biden has been reviewing “a number of potential candidates” and that the list is “bigger than a few.”  

Among those under consideration are Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C.; J. Michelle Childs, a federal district court judge in South Carolina; California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger; and prominent civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill.  

Asked Monday whether Biden wanted his nominee to have bipartisan support, Psaki didn’t directly answer but said the White House expects Republicans to look seriously at the nominee.  

—Updated at 2:27 p.m.