Rep. Cori Bush on SCOTUS pick: We shouldn’t be ‘pitting Black women against each other’ for seat

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said that people should not be “pitting Black women against each other for this SCOTUS seat” as President Biden mulls a nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

Bush made the remarks to Punchbowl News in an interview published on Wednesday when asked if she knew whether the Congressional Black Caucus had reached a consensus on a possible nominee to the high court. 

In her interview with the news outlet, the Missouri Democrat declined to name who she wanted to replace Breyer and said she did not know J. Michelle Childs, a federal district judge in South Carolina whom the White House has confirmed is one of several under consideration, well enough to make an opinion about it. 

“I’m not going to go after any particular person. I don’t know her. I don’t know her background well enough to be able to say so,” she told Punchbowl News. 

Instead, Bush said that she wanted to focus on the potential nominee’s qualifications.

“Getting a Black woman in the seat is necessary, but we want to make sure that it’s a Black woman who’s strong on criminal justice reform, has that type of history, strong on worker protections,” the progressive Democrat told the news outlet. “I don’t have a name. I want the person who has those qualifications to rise to the top.”

Bush’s comments come as the White House last week announced the team who will work on the Supreme Court nomination process.

While Childs is the only name that the White House has so far publicly confirmed is under consideration, other names under speculation include California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Biden has vowed that he will appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court.

Several lawmakers are already vying for Childs to become the Supreme Court nominee, including two influential members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D).

The Hill has reached out to Bush’s office for further comment.