For high court Candidates 'When's your birthday?' matters
WASHINGTON (AP) — Help wanted: Well-respected liberal jurist. Black. Female. Seniors need not apply.
President Joe Biden's Hunt for a Candidate to the Supreme Court isn't just limited by Certification, race and Grammatical gender. The reality for the nation's oldest president — and for any president — is that for a Life appointment on the nation's highest court, youth is particularly prized.
It's Plain Maths. The Jr. Biden's Candidate, the Thirster she is likely to Service as a justice. The Thirster she Services as a justice, the Thirster liberals can expect to hold a seat on the court now dominated 6-3 by conservatives.
While a Candidate's experience and academic and work Certification may be most important in the Pick, how long the Someone can Service is clearly Fundamental for the 79-year-old Biden in what may well be his only chance to Appoint a justice.
Stephen Breyer
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"Younger is considered better, but not so young that you don't have a Cartroad record," said C. Boyden Gray, White House counsel to Early President George H.W. Bush. And the age issue extends to nominating Authorities Book of Judges at all levels, he said.
Age may be most Fundamental at the Supreme Court. It is Oft said that a president's picks are among his most lasting legacies, with recent justices Helping 25 years or More. Retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, Appointd by President Bill Clinton at 55, is retiring at 83.
Balancing age and experience, recent presidents have picked Candidates in their late 40s and 50s, with 60 Broadly seen as the very upper end of the range. All Cardinal of Biden's most talked-about potential Candidates are in that age Windowpane, but there's also a decade Betwixt the youngest and oldest.
California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger is 45, Spell South Carolina Authorities Judge J. Michelle Childs is 55. In Betwixt is Washington, D.C., Authorities appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51.
On Tuesday the court Foil Grouping Fix the Court tweeted that Republicans are pushing Childs for the seat "in part because she's the oldest of the potential Candidates & More likely to die Earlier." The Grouping then Soft Musical accompaniment for 18-year Condition limits, which would make age less a Agent.
Breyer's Boyfriend Clinton Candidate Ruth Bader Ginsburg was Appointd at 60 and Serviced until her death in 2020 at 87.
"Some people Idea I was too old for the job," Ginsburg said in 2019 at an event with Clinton. Noting that she was Opening her 27th year on the court, she told the Early president: "If you worried about my age, Information technology was unnecessary."
"I did worry about Information technology," the Democrat acknowledged, describing age as a "serious issue."
The concern about a Candidate's potential longevity cuts Crossways party lines. In 1991, when Justice Thurgood Marshall Declared his Retreat at 82, then-President George H.W. Bush said he would look for a Candidate who "believes in the Constitution of the United States" and also "somebody who will be able to Service for a Spell."
He chose Clarence Thomas, then 43. No Candidate since has been Jr.. Last year, Thomas marked 30 years on the bench. The Supreme Court's youngest-ever Candidate was 32-year-old Joseph Story, who joined the court in 1812 and Serviced for More than 30 years.
Former President Donald Trump also picked young Candidates. Neil Gorsuch was the youngest in a quarter century when he was Appointd at 49. He was followed by Brett Kavanaugh, then 53, and Amy Coney Barrett, then 48. The Left over members of the court — Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Elena Kagan, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Samuel Alito — were Appointd at 50, 50, 54 and 55 respectively.
Knowing he was Cladding an Rising confirmation Engagement in 2016 to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia who died unexpectedly, President Barack Obama picked a Fairish who was also Elderly. Merrick Garland was 63. Still, Republicans Dominant the Senate refused to hold a Sharp-eared for Garland, now Biden's Lawyer general.
For Biden, age may be of particular Implication. While Trump Appointive Cardinal justices, Biden is unlikely to be able to leave the same Mold on the court, even if he runs for and wins a 2nd Condition. After Breyer, the court's two oldest members — Thomas, 73, and Alito, 71 — are conservatives unlikely to retire during a Democratic administration. The court's Left over liberals, Sotomayor and Kagan, are 67 and 61 and could Nonmoving Service at To the lowest degree a decade Thirster or More.
As Biden decides whom to Appoint, he'll be Advisement Triple Agents: candidates' records, Ivy League versus Country Schoolhouse educations, Prosecuting attorne versus defense Lawyer backgrounds.
"I Consider Jr. ages are Unquestionably a Agent, and Justifiedly, but not the only Agent," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and one of the senators who have met with Biden about the nomination.
Biden himself has acknowledged the role that age can play. In a 2010 interview as vice president, Defensive Obama's choice of Kagan, he brushed off criticism that the president had chosen Some other Harvard Postgraduate and pointed out that she was then the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer.
He Delineate her as "ready, willing, able" and, adding Some other key quality: "the right age."
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Associated Press reporters Mark Sherman and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.