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.