Joe Manchin has stated on Thursday that he had seen some Supreme Court candidates on President Biden’s shortlist and has expressed confidence in them.
“Whoever they choose is going to be great,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju, adding that the contenders are “extremely qualified” and “good people.”
Joe Manchin Praises J Michelle Childs
Joe Manchin has praised one particular pick, South Carolina federal district judge J. Michelle Childs, whom he called “a tremendous, tremendous candidate.” Other members of Congress who have recently praised Childs are Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, both of whom hail from her home state of South Carolina.
“I think there’s a tremendous amount of qualified candidates. I like the background of Ms. Childs from South Carolina. She seems to have a really solid background, grassroots, working family, public schools — all the right ingredients,” Manchin told NBC’s Sahil Kapur of Childs. “We need somebody with that type of background. But they’re all qualified. We’ll see who the president puts out.”
After Associate Justice Stephen Breyer announced that he intends to retire at the end of the current Supreme Court term, Biden reaffirmed his campaign pledge to nominate the first-ever Black woman to the nation’s highest court.
He said that he planned to introduce his nominee by the end of February and Senate Democratic leaders aim to move quickly to confirm her. The party doesn’t need any Republican support to confirm Biden’s nominee as long all 50 Democrats are on board and Vice President Kamala Harris casts the tie-breaking vote.
Since Biden took office and Democrats won a narrow Senate majority, Joe Manchin has attracted the national spotlight because of his outsized influence on the party’s domestic agenda.
