Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
With the advice and consent of the United States Senate, the president of the United States appoints the members of the Supreme Court of the United States, which is the highest court of the federal judiciary of the United States. Following his victory in the 2020 presidential election, 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, 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 to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who retired at the end of the court's 2022 term.
Nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson
On January 26, 2022, it was reported that Justice Stephen Breyer 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, Ketanji Brown Jackson, J. Michelle Childs and Leondra Kruger. 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
- Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
- * Ketanji Brown Jackson*
- * Sri Srinivasan
- * J. Michelle Childs*
- Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit
- * Eunice C. Lee*
- * Alison Nathan
- Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
- * Arianna J. Freeman*
- * Tamika Montgomery-Reeves*
- Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit
- * Candace Jackson-Akiwumi*
- Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit
- * Michelle Friedland
- * Lucy Koh
- * Jacqueline Nguyen
- * Holly A. Thomas*
- * Paul J. Watford
- Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit
- * Nancy Abudu*
- Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- * Tiffany P. Cunningham*
- * Todd M. Hughes
United States District Courts
- Leslie Abrams Gardner* – Judge of the Middle District of Georgia
- J. Paul Oetken – Judge of the Southern District of New York
- Wilhelmina Wright* – Judge of the District of Minnesota and former Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
State Supreme Courts
- Cheri Beasley* – former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court
- Anita Earls* – Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court
- Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar — former Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
- Leondra Kruger* – Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
- Goodwin Liu – Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
- Maite Oronoz Rodríguez – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico
State government officials
- Stacey Abrams* – former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and 2018 nominee for Governor of Georgia
- Keisha Lance Bottoms* – former Mayor of Atlanta
- Letitia James* – Attorney General of New York
Academics
- Michelle Alexander* – author and civil rights advocate
- Danielle Holley-Walker* – dean of the Howard University School of Law
- Pamela S. Karlan – professor of law at Stanford Law School
- Melissa Murray*, professor of law at New York University School of Law
- L. Song Richardson*, president of Colorado College
- Kenji Yoshino – professor of constitutional law at New York University School of Law
Executive branch
Other fields
- Sherrilyn Ifill* – director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund