Why Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Is Joe Biden’s Best Bet For Supreme Court Pick

There is little substantial open lobbying on behalf of the three known SCOTUS finalists, but views are being drawn and clear priorities are emerging with the tentative decision. any day. 28 organizations representing criminal defense attorneys, public defenders and human rights groups sent a letter to President Joe Biden urge him to name Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksona former public defender, to fulfill his promise to diversify the federal courts away from prosecutors.

The letter reminds Biden that he began his career as a public defender, and that his becoming the first president with that background would be appropriate to make this historic pick all the more fitting. more meaningful.

Jackson is reportedly one of three finalists in Biden’s quest to fill the seat vacated by Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer. And while Biden’s choice of a Black woman would be the first choice for SCOTUS, the court’s ideological balance would stay flat at 6-3, which explains why Republicans don’t. make a fuss about this. A war will only invigorate progress when Republicans want to hunt down Biden on other reasons more favorable for them for the midterms.

For longtime Supreme Court followers, the silence was unsettling as fault lines appeared between Democrats choosing sides among the three finalists.

Jackson, 51 years old, is clearly liked by the progressive community and is likely to be the easiest to confirm. She has undergone three Senate confirmations, the most recent being last June to the US Court of Appeals when she received three Republican votes from Senators Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski. Jackson’s endorsement letter from civil rights and justice advocates makes clear that no one on the court has qualified for criminal defense since Thurgood Marshall retired in 1991. civil rights pioneer, he was brought to court by President Lyndon Johnson. , so it’s been a while.

Even the Cato Institute, a conservative liberal think tank, says the courts need more civil rights lawyers and public defenders. One-time prosecutors outnumber previous defense attorneys by a 4-to-1 ratio, with those who have represented the government in criminal or civil proceedings more than those suing against the government. covered at a ratio of 7 to 1. Stay in an ideaCato noted that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that Marshall, who came to court after working as a civil rights attorney, “not only imparted legal acumen” to his colleagues, “but also his life experience, constantly motivates and motivates us to “not ignore” the power of moral truth “in court cases.

However, if Jackson is one of the Democrats’ supporters, Democrats don’t expect Republicans to rush without a fight. The clearest opening for the GOP is to focus less on her and instead on Biden for being “soft on crime” and choosing a public defender at a time when violent crime is on the rise. .

Judge J. Michelle Childs55, there is a Significant core support from those who want the court to diversify to include someone who attended state schools. Unfortunately for her, that group is not very large in Washington circles. And while bringing in background diversity is a factor, it doesn’t pack a political wall. Working people without a college degree who have dropped out of the Democratic Party won’t be pulled back by a state school graduate that makes them the rare frontier of the Harvard and Yale crowds.

Lobbying for Supreme Court vacancies

Photo by Meg Kinnard / Associated Press

Childs’ biggest fans are Congressman James Clyburn and Senator Lindsey Graham. The SCOTUS Child Chair will provide GOP narration that Biden is a puppet and Clyburn is a puppeteer. If it doesn’t go his way, Clyburn seems fine with that, saying last week that his policy is not an ultimatum.

Childs would get at least two GOP votes, possibly more, but her previous work on behalf of corporations fighting unions has had workers quietly opposing her. And for a president who promised to energize unionsthat can be a deal breaker.

Leondra R. Kruger, is 46 years old, just 38 years old when Governor Jerry Brown appointed her in 2014 to the California Supreme Court, where she was a prosecutor. She has the backing of what is considered an elite barrister in Washington. People who worked with her when she was assistant attorney general in the Obama administration, and later deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice, everyone thought the world about her.

She has argued 12 cases before the US Supreme Court and she has a record of notable rulings in California, but if she is nominated, her entire hearing will be about one case-a case of religious freedom that competed with the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Church and School against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Kruger argued that federal anti-discrimination laws should apply to a fired employee but SCOTUS agreed to a 9-0 dismissal by Chief Justice John Roberts. concluded that the employee violated church rules prohibits lawsuits over workplace problems, and the case tested a federal rule that allows churches to make employment decisions without government intervention. The backlash was so fierce from the left and right that the Obama administration had to fight back against accusations that it opposes religious freedom.

Reuters’s photo.

Since Kruger’s name emerged as a SCOTUS candidate, her boss at the time, Attorney General Donald Verrilli, said that he came up with a strategy for this case and Kruger just followed the instructions. He said he regretted his decision on the incident, calling it “a deafening tone on religious freedom issues”. However, Republicans will not ignore Kruger if she is nominated. She argued orally.

While he has made no secret of the internal debates at the White House, or what Biden may be thinking as he tackles a foreign policy crisis, if he’s looking for the most politically smooth ride, value, Jackson will check more boxes than others. Emily Galvin-Almanza with Partners for Justice was one of the signatories of the letter urging Jackson’s nomination. She told The Daily Beast that she wanted to have a voice in the courts who are listening to the most vulnerable people in our system, and she wanted to tell public defenders that she he worked with: “Look at Judge Jackson. This is where this path can lead.”

It is noteworthy that this decision will be made in the same timeframe Biden is dealing with a foreign policy crisis because, outside of war and peace, no decision is more consequential than who gets to be. sit on the Supreme Court.