Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is primed to become Biden's first Supreme Court pick as Justice Stephen Breyer retires

• Justice Stephen Breyer announced on Wednesday his plans for retirement.
• Legal experts say Ketanji Brown Jackson is a leading candidate to replace him.

Justice Stephen Breyer's planned retirement will give President Joe Biden his first opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice — and, for many Democrats and even some Republicans, the choice is already clear.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson emerged as an heir apparent almost as soon as Biden, who pledged during his presidential campaign to nominate a Black woman to the high court, took office in January 2021.

The US Senate confirmed Jackson in 2013 to the federal trial court in Washington, DC, where she served for eight years before Biden put her on the powerful US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, a court that has served as a launch pad to the Supreme Court.

Jackson's tenure as a federal district court judge was highlighted by an opinion in which she ordered former Trump White House counsel Donald McGahn to comply with a House Judiciary Committee subpoena to testify as part of the first impeachment inquiry into the former president. In a more than 100-page opinion, she forcefully rejected the Trump administration's claims that a president's close advisers are absolutely immune to demands for testimony before Congress.

The decision made waves with a single line: "Presidents are not kings."

Jackson brings not just experience on the federal bench but a background that the Biden administration has sought out in its push to fill judicial vacancies.

Before she served on the US Sentencing Commission and on the federal bench, Jackson— a Harvard Law School graduate — worked as an assistant federal public defender in the District of Columbia.

"There could not be a better choice than her. She's extremely intelligent, very hard-working, and — most importantly in my line of work — she's compassionate and truly cares about the individuals who come before her," said Jon Jeffress, who worked with Jackson in the federal public defender's office in Washington, DC.

Progressives looked to Jackson as they last year pressured Breyer to retire during the first year of the Biden presidency.

Biden's pick could energize Democratic voters ahead of the 2022 midterms, where Democrats face the prospect of losing majorities in both the House and Senate. Biden's approval rating, meanwhile, has plummeted in recent months, and he's facing some criticism from Black voters after Democrats failed to pass legislation on voting rights and police reform measures. .

Breyer has decided to step down from the Supreme Court at the end of this current term, according to NBC News. The timing of Breyer's decision could benefit Jackson if she goes through a Supreme Court confirmation, some observers say.

"I think Jackson is far and away the leading contender," said Mike Davis, a former top Republican Senate aide who played a key role putting Trump appointees on the federal bench. "If they would have tried to elevate [Judge Jackson] to the Supreme Court last June, they would've taken hits that she wasn't ready for the job."

With Jackson now having a year on the DC Circuit — a court widely considered the second most powerful in the land — Davis said "those arguments are going to ring hollow."

Legal experts have pointed out that it would be notable for Jackson to replace Breyer on the court because she was a former clerk for Breyer.

"A lot of judges and justices really feel like their clerks are extended family," Jonathan Adler, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University and a former clerk at the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, previously told Insider.

Breyer has also advocated on behalf of Jackson for her current role. In 2012, during Jackson's confirmation hearing for her current job, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, DC, relayed how Breyer thought very highly of Jackson.

"The first words out of his mouth when he picked up the phone were, 'Hire her,'" Norton told senators. Breyer then added, "She is great, she is brilliant. She is a mix of common sense, thoughtfulness. She is decent. She is very smart and has the mix of skills and experience we need on the bench.''

Supreme Court nominees require a simple majority vote of the US Senate to be confirmed. Democrats hold the slimmest of majorities in a US Senate divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting tie-breaking votes, when necessary.

Biden's short list is also expected to include California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, South Carolina District Court judge Michelle Childs and Minnesota District Judge Wilhelmina Wright. The Biden administration twice approached Kruger about the role of solicitor general — the Justice Department's chief advocate before the Supreme Court — but she declined, according to people familiar with her response.

Kruger's decision not to join the Biden administration was first reported by the National Law Journal.