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Joe Biden promised House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn during the 2020 campaign that he would nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court.
The move has angered Republicans who claim the selection should not be based on race or gender.
News of liberal Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement leaked Wednesday but was confirmed today by the White House.
Biden will appear next to Breyer and deliver remarks about the judge’s retirement at 12.30pm.
Biden performed poorly in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries and needed a boost in South Carolina in February 2020 to help clinch the nomination to take on Donald Trump.
Clyburn, who previously chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, offered his endorsement but with a caveat – that the then-candidate publicly pledge to place a black woman on the Supreme Court should he get the chance in his tenure.
Journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes detail in their book ‘Lucky’ that Clyburn pow-wowed with Biden during a break in the Democratic debate on February 25, 2020.
The lawmaker was becoming increasingly frustrated that Biden had not promised on the debate stage to nominate a black female Supreme Court justice after speaking on the issue the night before.

Joe Biden reportedly promised House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn during the 2020 campaign that he would nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court

Then-candidate Biden appears on stage with Clyburn in Columbia, South Carolina in June 2019
‘So Clyburn gets up from his seat in the debate hall in the audience, and he makes a beeline for the exit,’ Allen explained on the Yahoo News Skullduggery podcast last year.

News broke Wednesday that Stephen Breyer will retire from the Supreme Court
Allen explained Clyburn’s words to Biden at the time: ‘He says, ‘Look, I told you that I wanted you to say that you were going to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court. You haven’t done it yet. You’ve had a bunch of opportunities. Don’t you dare leave this stage without doing it.’
Clyburn told CNN on Wednesday that he did inform Biden he should address the issue of no black woman ever serving on the Supreme Court as a way to bolster his support among the black community – especially in South Carolina.


Biden previously promised to nominate black woman to the Supreme Court after the retirement of 83-year-old Stephen Breyer


The White House said Wednesday that Biden will honor his promise to nominate a black woman
The advice helped propel Biden’s campaign and eventually earn the nomination.
So far, 10 names already emerged for the short list of who Biden is considering nominating.
South Carolina US District Court Judge J. Michelle Childs seems to have the backing of Clyburn, who represents South Carolina in the House. Childs, 55, also already appears to be in Biden’s favor as he nominated her last month to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where the nomination is still pending.
Republicans are not happy that Biden is choosing to narrow his scope of nominees to only black women.
‘Imagine being the Supreme Court nominee for Biden where your qualification is your skin color and gender,’ former Donald Trump official Richard Grenell tweeted Thursday. ‘Black women should be furious that Biden doesn’t see them as actually qualified.’
He added in another post: ‘Asians, gays and Hispanics had no shot for a Supreme Court seat from Joe Biden.’
‘Biden has eliminated 94% of Americans for consideration for a Supreme Court pick in the event of a retirement. Now that’s leadership,’ former attorney, and former conservative radio host Neal Boortz sarcastically tweeted.
Ilya Shapiro, vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, wrote: ‘Because Biden said he’s only consider black women for SCOTUS, his nominee will always have an asterisk attached. Fitting that the Court takes up affirmative action next term.’
Source: dailymail