Americans divided by race on Biden promise to nominate Black woman to Supreme Court: poll

Americans are divided by race on President Biden’s promise to nominate a Black woman to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs, found that 63 percent of Black Americans say it is very or extremely important to them personally that a Black woman sits on the Supreme Court, compared to 21 percent of white Americans and 33 percent of Hispanics who said the same.

Generally speaking, 29 percent of Americans polled said it was very or extremely important to them personally that a Black woman serves on the Supreme Court. Twenty-three percent of respondents said it is somewhat important to them, and 48 percent said it is not important to them personally.

The poll comes nearly one month after news broke that Breyer would retire from the Supreme Court at the end of this term, handing Biden his first opportunity to nominate someone to the bench.

On the campaign trail, Biden vowed to nominate a Black woman should a Supreme Court vacancy arise, a pledge he reaffirmed after Breyer’s announcement. A Black woman has never been nominated to serve on the Supreme Court.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Bind has interviewed at least three potential Supreme Court nominees, including D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, federal District Judge J. Michelle Childs and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger. Earlier this month, he said he was seriously looking at four candidates.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that Biden has not yet selected a nominee to succeed Breyer and is continuing to “evaluate eminently qualified individuals in the mold of Justice Breyer who have the strongest records, intellect, character, and dedication to the rule of law that anyone could ask for — and all of whom would be deserving of bipartisan support. He looks forward to announcing a nominee this month.”

The president earlier this month said he plans to announce his nominee by the end of February.

The poll surveyed 1,289 adults from Feb. 18 to Feb. 21. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.