Topline
President Joe Biden will name former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) to be the “sherpa” who guides his Supreme Court nominee through the confirmation process, multiple outlets report, as the president sifts through potential picks for the high court.
Key Facts
The New York Times was first to report Biden will name Jones to the role, citing anonymous sources, after the president previously considered the ex-senator to be the U.S. attorney general.
Jones served in the Senate for three years before being defeated in 2020 by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and he previously was a U.S. attorney in Alabama, where he prosecuted two members of the Ku Klux Klan for a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham.
The “sherpa” “do[es] a little bit of everything of helping [a Supreme Court nominee] through the process,” former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who served as Justice Neil Gorsuch’s sherpa, told NPR in 2018, including introducing the nominee to senators and helping them earn lawmakers’ support.
Though less experienced than other sherpas like Ayotte and former Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.), who guided Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Jones could be helpful as a Democrat who hails from a “deeply conservative” state, the Times notes.
What To Watch For
Biden has said he’ll unveil a nominee by the end of February, kicking off what Democratic leaders in the Senate have said is expected to be a swift confirmation process. The president is reportedly considering more than a dozen candidates and has committed to appointing a Black woman. Biden will consult with senators from both parties, and met with Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Tuesday. "The Constitution says, 'advise and consent, advice and consent,' and I'm serious when I say that I want the advice of the Senate as well as the consent to arrive on who the nominee should be," Biden told reporters Tuesday.
Key Background
Biden is filling his first Supreme Court vacancy after liberal-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer announced last week he would retire at the end of the court’s term in late June or early July, assuming his successor has been confirmed. Democrats’ slim Senate majority means the nominee can likely be confirmed without any GOP votes—if all 50 Democrats vote for the nominee with Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker—though the president is expected to court Republican support. Republican senators like Susan Collins (Maine) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) have said they’ll give full consideration to Biden’s nominee, and Republican lawmakers told reporters Tuesday they expect to mount less opposition than Democrats did against Kavanaugh in 2018.
Further Reading:
White House Chooses Doug Jones to Guide Supreme Court Nominee (New York Times)
Will Biden’s Supreme Court Nominee Get GOP Support? Here’s What Republicans Are Saying So Far (Forbes)What to Watch for:
Biden has said he’ll unveil a nominee by the end of February, kicking off what Democratic leaders in the Senate have said is expected to be a swift confirmation process. The president is reportedly considering more than a dozen candidates and has committed to appointing a Black woman. Biden will consult with senators from both parties, and met with Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Tuesday. "The Constitution says, 'advise and consent, advice and consent,' and I'm serious when I say that I want the advice of the Senate as well as the consent to arrive on who the nominee should be," Biden told reporters Tuesday.
Key Background:
Biden is filling his first Supreme Court vacancy after liberal-leaning Justice Stephen Breyer announced last week he would retire at the end of the court’s term in late June or early July, assuming his successor has been confirmed. Democrats’ slim Senate majority means the nominee can likely be confirmed without any GOP votes—if all 50 Democrats vote for the nominee with Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker—though the president is expected to court Republican support. Republican senators like Susan Collins (Maine) and Lindsey Graham (S.C.) have said they’ll give full consideration to Biden’s nominee, and Republican lawmakers told reporters Tuesday they expect to mount less opposition than Democrats did against Kavanaugh in 2018.
Further Reading:
White House Chooses Doug Jones to Guide Supreme Court Nominee (New York Times)
Will Biden’s Supreme Court Nominee Get GOP Support? Here’s What Republicans Are Saying So Far (Forbes)
