With the

advice and consent Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in enacting formulae of bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts. It describes either of two situations: where a weak executive branch of a government enacts something previo ...

of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

appoints the members of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, which is the highest court of the

federal judiciary of the United States The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primaril ...

. Following his victory in the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

, Democrat Joe Biden took office as president on January 20, 2021. During the 2020 Democratic primary campaign, Biden pledged to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court, although unlike his opponent,

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, Biden did not release a specific list of potential nominees during the 2020 general election campaign. In February 2022, Biden selected Judge

Ketanji Brown Jackson Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson ( ; born September 14, 1970) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jackson was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on February 25, 20 ...

to replace Justice

Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...

, who retired at the end of the court's 2022 term.

Court composition under Biden

Nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson

On January 26, 2022, it was reported that Justice

planned to step down at the end of the court's current term, giving Biden his first opportunity to name a justice to the court. On January 27, Biden reiterated his intention to keep his campaign promise to nominate a Black woman. On February 22, it was reported that Biden had met with his top three contenders,

, J. Michelle Childs and

Leondra Kruger Leondra Reid Kruger (born July 28, 1976) is an American judge who is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California. A native of South Pasadena, California, she graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School. Kruger then clerked fo ...

. On February 25, it was announced that Biden would nominate Judge Jackson. On April 7, 2022, Jackson was confirmed by a vote of 53–47. She was then sworn in on June 30, 2022 at noon, when Breyer's retirement went into effect.

Names mentioned as likely nominees

Following is a list of individuals who have been mentioned in various news accounts as possible nominees for a Supreme Court appointment under Biden: Note: Individuals marked with an asterisk would fulfill Biden's commitment that his first nominee be a Black woman. Bolded individuals have been selected by Biden for the Supreme Court.

United States Courts of Appeals

US Court of Appeals and District Court map

Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...

* (born 1970) ( elevated by Biden) ( nominated and confirmed) **

Sri Srinivasan Padmanabhan Srikanth "Sri" Srinivasan (; born February 23, 1967) is an Indian-born American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before he was a circuit judge, Srinivas ...

(born 1967) ** J. Michelle Childs* (born 1966) ( elevated by Biden) * Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit **

Eunice C. Lee Eunice Cheryl Lee (born 1970) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Born in West Germany, she attended Ohio State University and Yale Law School. In 2021, s ...

* (born 1970) ( appointed by Biden) **

Alison Nathan Alison Julie Nathan (born June 18, 1972) is an American lawyer who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 2022. She served as a United States district judge of the United Sta ...

(born 1972) ( elevated by Biden) * Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ** Arianna J. Freeman* (born 1978) ( appointed by Biden) ** Tamika Montgomery-Reeves* (born 1981) ( appointed by Biden) * Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit **

Candace Jackson-Akiwumi Candace Rae Jackson-Akiwumi (born 1979) is an American attorney serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since July 2021. She was previously a staff attorney at the federal defender pr ...

* (born 1979) ( appointed by Biden) * Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ** Michelle Friedland (born 1972) **

Lucy Koh Lucy Haeran Koh (born August 7, 1968) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She is the first Korean American woman to serve on a federal appellate court in the Unit ...

(born 1968) ( elevated by Biden) **

Jacqueline Nguyen Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen ( vi, Nguyễn Hồng Ngọc; born May 25, 1965) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a United States d ...

(born 1965) **

Holly A. Thomas Holly Aiyisha Thomas (born 1979) is an American attorney serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She previously served as a judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 2018 to ...

* (born 1979) ( appointed by Biden) **

Paul J. Watford Paul Jeffrey Watford (born August 25, 1967) is an American lawyer serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 2012. In February 2016, ''The New York Times'' identified Watford as a po ...

(born 1967) *

Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...

Tiffany P. Cunningham Tiffany Patrice Cunningham (born May 27, 1976) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Education After graduating from the Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Cunningham receive ...

* (born 1976) ( appointed by Biden) ** Todd M. Hughes (born 1966)

United States District Courts

Leslie Abrams Gardner Leslie Abrams Gardner (''née'' Leslie Joyce Abrams; born December 6, 1974) is a U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Prior to being appointed to the bench, she was an Assistant United State ...

* (born 1974) – Judge of the Middle District of Georgia * J. Paul Oetken (born 1965) – Judge of the

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New Y ...

Wilhelmina Wright Wilhelmina Marie Wright (born January 13, 1964) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. She is the only jurist in Minnesota's history to be State District Court Judge, Appellate Court J ...

* (born 1964) – Judge of the District of Minnesota and former Associate Justice of the

Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court wa ...

State Supreme Courts

* Cheri Beasley* (born 1966) – former Chief Justice of the

North Carolina Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina is the state of North Carolina's highest appellate court. Until the creation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in the 1960s, it was the state's only appellate court. The Supreme Court consists ...

Anita Earls Anita Earls (born February 20, 1960) is an African-American civil rights Lawyer, attorney, educator and Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, Supreme Court of North Carolina. She previously served as the Executive Director of the ...

* (born 1960) – Associate Justice of the

Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar Mariano-Florentino "Tino" Cuéllar (born July 27, 1972) is an American scholar, academic leader, public official, jurist, and nonprofit executive currently serving as the 10th president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A former ...

(born 1972) — former Associate Justice of the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

* (born 1976) – Associate Justice of the

Goodwin Liu Goodwin Hon Liu (born October 19, 1970; Chinese: 劉弘威) is an American lawyer, educator and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. Before his appointment by California Governor Jerry Brown, Liu was Associate Dean and Profes ...

(born 1970) – Associate Justice of the

Maite Oronoz Rodríguez Maite Oronoz Rodríguez (born 1976) is a Puerto Rican jurist and chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. Oronoz Rodríguez is Puerto Rico's first openly gay chief justice. Early years and education Oronoz Rodríguez earned her bac ...

(born 1976) – Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court of Puerto Rico The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico ( es, Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico) is the highest court of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority to interpret and decide questions of Puerto Rican law. The Court is analogous to one of the state supreme cou ...

State government officials

Stacey Abrams Stacey Yvonne Abrams (; born December 9, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017. A member ...

* (born 1973) – former Minority Leader of the

Georgia House of Representatives The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly (the state legislature) of the U.S. state of Georgia. There are currently 180 elected members. Republicans have had a majority in the chamber since 2005. T ...

and 2018 nominee for

Governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legisl ...

Keisha Lance Bottoms Keisha Lance Bottoms (born January 18, 1970) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2018 to 2022. She was elected mayor in 2017. Before becoming mayor, she was a member of the Atlanta City C ...

* (born 1970) – former

Mayor of Atlanta Here is a list of mayors of Atlanta, Georgia. The mayor is the highest elected official in Atlanta. Since its incorporation in 1847, the city has had 61 mayors. The current mayor is Andre Dickens who was elected in the 2021 election and took of ...

Letitia James Letitia Ann James (born October 18, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the current Attorney General of New York, having won the 2018 election to succeed appointed Attorney General Barbara Und ...

* (born 1958) –

Attorney General of New York The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...

Academics

Michelle Alexander Michelle Alexander (born October 7, 1967) is an American writer and civil rights activist. She is best known for her 2010 book '' The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness''. Since 2018, she has been an opinion columnist ...

* (born 1967) – author and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

advocate * Danielle Holley-Walker* (born c. 1975) – dean of the

Howard University School of Law Howard University School of Law (Howard Law or HUSL) is the law school of Howard University, a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest law schools in the country and the oldes ...

Pamela S. Karlan Pamela Susan Karlan (born 1959) is an American legal scholar who is the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. She is on a leave of absence from Stanford Law School. A ...

(born 1959) – professor of law at

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

* Melissa Murray* (born 1975), professor of law at

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

* L. Song Richardson* (born 1966–67), president of

Colorado College Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its campus. The college offer ...

Kenji Yoshino Kenji Yoshino (born May 1, 1969) is a legal scholar and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law. Formerly, he was the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. His work involve ...

(born 1969) – professor of constitutional law at

Executive branch

* Kristen Clarke* (born 1975) – Assistant Attorney General for the

Civil Rights Division The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. T ...

Other fields

* Nancy Abudu* (born 1974) – deputy legal director and interim director for strategic litigation at the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...

( nominated to Eleventh Circuit by Biden) *

Sherrilyn Ifill Sherrilyn Ifill (born December 17, 1962) is an American lawyer and the Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University. She is a law professor and former president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fun ...

* (born 1962) – director-counsel of the

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Altho ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biden, Joe, Supreme Court Candidates Supreme Court candidates United States Supreme Court candidates by president