First Black woman to Supreme Court
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The retirement of Stephen Breyer, a liberal member of the U.S. Supreme Court, gives President Joe Biden the opportunity to fulfil his pledge to nominate a Black woman to the country’s top judicial body
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HISTORIC FIRSTS JUSTICES AT SUPREME COURT

Appointed by
Democratic president
Republican president

1916 First Jewish Louis Brandeis Woodrow Wilson
1967 First Black Thurgood Marshall Lyndon Johnson
1981 First woman Sandra Day O’Connor Ronald Reagan
1993 First female Jewish Ruth Bader Ginsburg Bill Clinton
2009 First Hispanic Sonia Sotomayor Barack Obama
2022 First female Black justice Joe Biden

1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

SUPREME COURT BALANCE
Replacing Justice Breyer with another liberal would not shift court’s current 6-3 conservative majority


John Roberts, 67 Chief Justice
Neil Gorsuch, 54
Stephen Breyer, 83
Samuel Alito, 71
Brett Kavanaugh, 56
Clarence Thomas, 73
Elena Kagan, 61
Sonia Sotomayor, 67
Amy Coney Barrett, 49
Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51  Former law clerk to Breyer, believed to be top contender
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Sources: U.S. Supreme Court, Reuters
Pictures: Getty Images, Library of Congress © GRAPHIC NEWS