(CTN News) – President Joe Biden assured black people on Wednesday that if re-elected, he will name progressives to the US Supreme Court, indicating that there may be vacancies in the next four years.
“The next president, they’re going to be able to appoint a couple justices, and I’ll be damned—if in fact we’re able to change some of the justices when they retire and put in progressive judges like we’ve always had, tell me that won’t change your life,” he stated at a Philadelphia campaign event.
Biden emphasized the importance of the forthcoming election and reminded the audience that three of the nine judges are in their seventies.
Conservative justices Samuel Alito, 74, and Clarence Thomas, 75, were both chosen by Republican administrations. Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal President Barack Obama chose, will be 70 next month.
Retiring any or all of those justices might give a crucial chance to either Biden, who has named one justice to the Supreme Court, or his Republican competitor Donald Trump, who has appointed three during his four-year term.
The court’s ideological makeup has evolved into one of the most defining aspects of American political power.
Trump’s three appointees enabled a conservative majority to repeal the Roe v. Wade abortion right in 2022, presenting a significant challenge in the upcoming election. The group has also considered gun ownership rights, voting protections, and regulatory issues.
Justices rarely indicate their retirement plans before declaring them to the court, and presidents have traditionally been cautious about discussing the possibility of retiring justices.
At the start of his administration, Biden made it clear to advisers that he would not encourage Justice Stephen Breyer, then 83, to resign, even though many Democrats were eager for the political opening such a vacancy would bring.
Biden’s hands-off approach stemmed from respect for the justices he oversaw as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a fear of backlash from overt pressure campaigns. Liberal groups not linked with the White House were more outspoken in their calls for Breyer’s retirement.
In January 2022, Breyer announced his retirement, allowing Biden to fulfill his campaign promise of nominating a Black woman to the court, Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Other presidents have taken a somewhat similar strategy. Trump’s White House counsel, Don McGahn, did not explicitly advocate for Justice Anthony Kennedy’s early retirement. Instead, he consulted the justice on lower court nominations to get confidence in the procedure.
Obama allegedly danced around the retirement subject with Ruth Bader Ginsburg during a lunch in 2013. She was the court’s oldest member at the time, and she did not retire during Obama’s term. She died while still on the bench in 2020, and Trump promptly chose conservative Amy Coney Barrett to succeed her.
In his bid for re-election, Trump has highlighted his nominations for the Supreme Court and promised more conservative appointments if elected.
“Many presidents never have the opportunity to choose a Supreme Court Justice. I had three. “They are gold,” he stated during a 2023 speech at the Moms for Liberty event. “Perhaps we will receive three or four more. “Can you imagine?”