Black History Month 2022 Could Give Us the First Black Woman on the U.S. Supreme Court — Linked Inclusion™ :: A virtual platform-based community of individuals facing the common challenges of exclusion :: Diversity And Inclusion Training | Online Diversity And Inclusion Certification | Best Resources For Diversity And Inclusion | Equity Training In The Workplace | Wellness Training For Employees

With the pending retirement of Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, the nation faces the prospect of the first African American woman serving on the U.S. Supreme Court – with her nomination possibly confirmed before Black History Month reaches its final day.

Breyer’s retirement, announced Jan. 27, allows President Biden to honor a campaign pledge: "The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity,” Biden said. “And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It's long overdue, in my view."

Whomever Biden nominates, once confirmed, would be the sixth woman and the third Black person to serve on the court. The White House has not at this writing announced its nominee, but several prospects have been identified by multiple advocacy groups and news outlets.

One name that comes up frequently is Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since June 2021, after eight years as a U.S. District judge.

She also served as vice chair and commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2011 to 2014, and was a clerk for Breyer.

Jackson is a 1996 cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and was supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review, as was President Obama, who previously considered her for the Supreme Court.

Another contender is J. Michelle Childs, a current nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Childs serves on the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Childs is an Obama nominee, and earned her J.D. at the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1991 and an L.L.M. in Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law in 2016.

Breyer intends to serve through the end of the Court’s current term in July. Confirmation of his successor requires a simple majority vote in the U.S. Senate. If, as is likely, all 50 Republican senators vote against Biden’s nominee, the tie would be broken by the president of the Senate – Kamala Harris, a history-making woman in her own right as the first Black woman to be vice president of the United States. And as a former U.S. senator, attorney general of California and district attorney of San Francisco, Harris herself would have been a prospect for the high court.

Photos courtesy of U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina/Handout via REUTERS and Kevin Lamarque / Pool via Getty Images