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According to a new tell-all book about the Biden administration, it had considered nominating Kamala Harris to the Supreme Court before Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson took the position.
While this might seem like a radical move, it would have been completely in character for the Biden administration. Newsmax contributor Jeffrey Lord said, "It doesn’t surprise me at all because it’s all about politics. And the question would immediately become, ‘Why are you opposing a Black woman for the Supreme Court?’"
As Lord pointed out, President Biden had already pledged during his presidential campaign that if he had the opportunity to appoint a judge to the court, it would be a Black woman. Lord said that by making that promise, he immediately limited whom he could nominate.
He emphasized that Biden should have picked the most qualified candidate, regardless of race or gender, saying, "The Democratic Party has worked itself into this position. They’re hung up on judging people based on skin color. They feel that it is their right."
But of course, Harris checking the "Black woman" box is just one of many possible reasons she could have been considered. CNN’s Jake Tapper, co-author of the new book, pointed out that this could have been an effort to get Harris out of the picture.
He pointed out that there was tension between Kamala Harris’s staff and President Biden’s, and as early as 2022, Harris was widely seen as unpopular and not a viable candidate. Concerns that were later confirmed in the November 2024 election.