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The Most Unlikely People Being Proposed to Replace SCOTUS Justice Breyer

News of liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s impending retirement set off a flurry of commentary about who would replace him – some suggestions more serious than others.

SO WHAT

The high-stakes fight over the next Supreme Court justice is off to an awesome start.

WHAT HAPPENED

On Wednesday, multiple news outlets reported that Breyer would this week announce he was retiring at the end of his term.

  • The White House responded the same day by affirming President Joe Biden’s commitment to honoring the campaign pledge he made to nominate a black woman to the nation’s highest court.
  • Democrats celebrated the news, seeing it as an opportunity for Biden to provide a jolt of positivity to a floundering presidency, achieve a race and gender milestone and to establish a more permanent bulwark against the court’s 6-3 majority.
  • A consensus swiftly formed around the list of black female judges Biden was likely to pick: Ketanji Brown Jackson, who serves on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Leondra Kruger, a California Supreme Court justice, have emerged as two frontrunners.

THE NOMINEES

While Jackson and Kruger represented the more sober-minded proposals being put forth, other names floated by commenters seemed markedly more unlikely.

1. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

2. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

3. Vice President Kamala Harris

Breyer on Thursday officially announced his retirement in a letter to the president.

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