President Biden has completed his interviews with multiple contenders for the Supreme Court vacancy left by retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, according to The Washington Post.
Biden completed interviews with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and Judge J. Michelle Child for the open vacancy, sources told the paper.
Jackson served on the federal bench for nine years and has a background as a public defender. Child is a federal judge based in South Carolina and is a favorite of House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), according to The Associated Press.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement that Biden hasn’t chosen a nominee yet and is still evaluating the qualified individuals for the position.
“SCOTUS Update: The President has not yet chosen a nominee,” Bates wrote in a tweet.
“He continues to evaluate eminently qualified individuals in the mold of Justice Breyer who have the strongest records, intellect, character, and dedication to the rule of law that anyone could ask for – and all of whom would be deserving of bipartisan support. He looks forward to announcing a nominee this month,” Bates added.
Breyer announced his pending retirement last month after spending nearly three decades in the highest court.
Biden has said he will announce his pick for the Supreme Court nominee by the end of this month. He has also vowed since his time on the campaign trail to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court
“We are of course very short period of time away from the end of the month of February,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday when asked how many candidates Biden has interviewed. “The president has not made a decision about who he’s going to nominate, but I’m still not going to get into details about the internal process.”