Biden meets with Durbin, Grassley on court pick

President Biden on Tuesday met with the two top senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss his upcoming Supreme Court nominee as the White House puts an emphasis on getting bipartisan input on the eventual pick.

Biden was joined in the Oval Office by Vice President Harris and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

“The Constitution says ‘advise and consent, advice and consent,’ and I’m serious when I say I want the advice of the Senate as well as the consent we can arrive on who the nominee should be,” Biden told reporters.

Biden, who has already pledged to nominate a Black woman to fill the seat of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, said he was looking for a candidate “with character, with qualities of a judge in terms of being courteous to the folks before them and treating people with respect as well as a judicial philosophy that is more one that suggests that are unenumerated rights to the Constitution and all the amendments mean something, including the Ninth Amendment.”

Grassley told reporters after the meeting that he told Biden he was looking for a nominee “that’s going to interpret law, not make law, checks and balances the government and a fair, and a fair and deliberative process.”

Durbin told reporters at the Capitol that Biden is hoping to work with members of both parties and that the White House is hoping the eventual pick is confirmed roughly 40 days after the nomination is sent to the Senate. 

The meeting was the first public conversation Biden has had with members of both parties since Breyer announced last week that he would retire at the end of this Supreme Court session. The White House has made clear it plans to engage with Republicans on the potential nominee, even as Supreme Court confirmation proceedings have become increasingly contentious in recent years.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have praised J. Michelle Childs, a federal judge from their home state who is among those under consideration for the Supreme Court vacancy. 

“I expect he will have many more consultations with Democrats and Republicans,” press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. 

Asked if Biden would intentionally look for a nominee who can win bipartisan support, Psaki said the president was focused on “picking the person who is eminently qualified, who is ready to serve and prepared to serve in a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, not in navigating the legislative process.”