Biden Seeks High Court Pick Who Isn’t ‘Ideological Choice’ (1)

President Joe Biden says he has done a “deep dive” on four potential Supreme Court nominees thus far and intends to choose one who won’t be “ideological” and can win votes from Senate Republicans.

So far, the president has dug in with “thorough background checks” on four candidates to look for anything that would disqualify them, he said in a Thursday interview with NBC News. He didn’t say whether the four people he’s studied make up part or all of his short list for the nomination.

Biden said he’s confident that any nomination he makes will be able to win Republican votes because “I’m not looking to make an ideological choice.” He’s looking to replace the retiring Stephen Breyer with someone who has “an open mind who understands the Constitution, interprets it in a way that is consistent with the mainstream interpretation of the Constitution.”

Biden is considering his choice with advice from senators from both parties. He met Thursday with 10 of the 11 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, while he and aides have separately been talking with Senate Republicans.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, speaking to reporters Thursday evening at the White House after the meeting, said senators offered recommendations but told Biden they trust his judgment.

“We didn’t come up with a list of names, but suggested to him names we’ve heard are encouraging. We know that the list is longer than the public probably knows. He has to go through the process of narrowing that list,” said Durbin, an Illinois Democrat. “He’s going to take up meeting with the nominees soon.”

Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, said Thursday he had received a call from a White House legal counsel about the court vacancy. Two other Republican moderates who have been supportive of some of Biden’s lower court judicial nominees, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said last week that Biden called them personally to get their input.

“As he considers deeply qualified potential nominees for the Supreme Court, the president and his team have had conversations with lawmakers from both parties this week and last, in good faith, to hear their perspectives about the process,” said White House spokesman Andrew Bates.

Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said after meeting Biden Thursday that there may be some Republican support for the nominee the president ends up selecting.

The administration’s GOP outreach efforts extend to the Judiciary Committee, which will consider the nomination as early as next month if Biden keeps to his timetable of naming a nominee by the end of this month.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and senior panel member, said last week he spoke with White House Counsel Dana Remus, using the opportunity to plug U.S. District Court Judge Michelle Childs, who hails from his home state, as a possible nominee. Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said Thursday he also spoke to Remus.

Biden has committed to nominate the first Black woman to the court, following through on a promise he made as he battled for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, another Democrat who met with Biden, said the forthcoming pick will be the 21st Supreme Court nomination since he’s been in the Senate, but added: “This is the historic one.”

(Updates with Durbin, Klobuchar, Leahy comments after Biden meeting)

--With assistance from Zach C. Cohen, Erik Wasson, Josh Wingrove and Jennifer Jacobs.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;
Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net

Justin Blum, John Harney

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