Biden reveals his SCOTUS pick

US President Joe Biden kept true to his promise to nominate the first black woman to the Supreme Court, announcing DC Circuit Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jakcson, a name that had previously been tipped as his likely pick by multiple news outlets. 

The White House called Jackson an “exceptionally qualified and historic nominee” in a Friday statement. The announcement will be followed by an address by Biden later in the day, according to the White House.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement congratulating Jackson on her nomination, but suggested he and other Republicans could be a “no” vote on the nominee, recalling that he also opposed Jackson when she was nominated to the DC Circuit Court a year ago.

“Since then, I understand that she has published a total of two opinions, both in the last few weeks, and that one of her prior rulings was just reversed by a unanimous panel of her present colleagues on the DC Circuit,” McConnell wrote. “I also understand Judge Jackson was the favored choice of far-left dark-money groups that have spent years attacking the legitimacy and structure of the Court itself.”

McConnell previously ignited controversy by refusing to schedule a hearing on Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland in 2016, the final year of the then-president’s second term in office.