According to, among other sources, Politico and the Federalist Society, Senate Republicans are not exactly bracing for a “bare knuckle” fight over Biden’s nominee to replace liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Whoever that nominee will be, that replacement supposedly will not change the balance of forces on the court between liberal activists and their opponents. It would therefore be a mistake, we are told, to waste ammunition and the good will of voters by going after the black female successor to Breyer.
The likely appointee right now is Ketanji Brown Jackson, who sits on the D.C. Court of Appeals and who was raised to that post with bipartisan support in 2021. The fact that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and two other Republican senators voted for this appointee for the federal bench has allowed the leftist press to describe her as a thoughtful moderate, perhaps someone comparable to Merrick Garland at the time the liberal media were touting our current attorney general for the court vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia.
Of course, Brown-Jackson is no centrist, unless we make that term highly elastic. While a judge on the D.C. district court, she tried to block Trump’s attempts to control illegal border crossings; and on the federal bench, she has faithfully supported the congressional January 6 Committee, particularly its efforts to force Donald Trump to hand over White House records that he treated as confidential.
Brown-Jackson also decided in favor of Biden’s executive order barring residential evictions last August, something the Supreme Court later reversed. Like Garland, Brown-Jackson is clearly a Democratic operative, which in addition to her gender and racial identity explains why Biden may be choosing her. But Brown-Jackson is no less moderate than Leondra Kruger, who sits on the California Supreme Court and who is also being considered for the vacancy that Breyer’s departure will create.
The Republicans, being the polite party, will not summon up the ruthless determination that the Democrats did in trying to block the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. Republican sources are assuring us that this new nominee won’t change the composition of the court. She will be nothing more than a replacement for Stephen Breyer, who almost always voted with the Left on divisive judicial issues. Besides, Republican Party leaders are determined not to do anything that might alienate minority voters, for example, taking a strong stand against a female who is also a member of a racial minority.
