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In this news article, President Biden claims that he has narrowed his list of supreme court nominees to four people. In the recent past he promised to nominate the first A Black Women onto the Supreme Court. The article also says that he isn't trying to find someone with the same ideologies as himself but rather someone who is able to have an open mind that isn't persuade by political boundaries and loyalties. This is a huge step for America as in our past readings and content from TE 101, Black Women are treated poorly compared to any other group of people. This step is like abolitionist teaching as it fights head on the current state of government by actively searching to diversify the supreme court.

Diversifying the supreme court, like the way the President Biden is striving to do, is critical for government as it means that more and more americans are being represented by our government. Our government is typically run by old white guys. I guarantee if you look up your state representatives or key political leaders in our national government, most will be white old men. By nominating a Black women, President Biden is also forcing representation of two marginalized groups: Black people and women. Both of these groups have far more trouble finding jobs, houses, and securing loans and funds than white people. In fact, women have taxes on feminine hygiene products while men have no taxes on their hygiene products. These groups are being underrepresented in our government. President Biden promising to nominate a Black Woman and working long and hard to find them is helping to bring more representation to our government.

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With less than three weeks to go before his self-imposed deadline to nominate a new Supreme Court justice to replace the retiring Stephen Breyer, President Biden huddled Thursday evening with Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It's the latest in a series of meetings and phone calls Biden has held with senators from both parties to discuss the pick, who he has promised will be the first Black woman nominated to the court.

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who chairs the committee, said the 10 lawmakers in the meeting shared some recommendations with Biden. "But mainly the message was, 'We trust your judgement, Joe Biden, when it comes to choosing the right person,' " Durbin told reporters at the White House.

"We are all excited about the candidates we have heard about," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island added. "We all have enormous confidence in President Biden's judgement. We are very aware of the historic nature of this appointment, and very proud of that."

President Biden on his search for a Supreme Court nominee:

Biden tells @LesterHoltNBC that he's done a deep dive on "about four people," and thinks his pick will get a vote from Republicans

Biden says he's looking for someone "with the same kind of capacity" as Justice Breyer pic.twitter.com/pNYLrLVSBR
- NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) February 10, 2022

While White House officials have taken pains in recent weeks to stress that Biden is considering a wide range of candidates, insiders still see federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and California State Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger as the top contenders for the spot.

Rep. James Clyburn, a close Biden ally who helped the president turn his 2020 campaign around with a key endorsement before the South Carolina primary, has been advocating for Judge J. Michelle Childs, as well.

In an interview with NBC News taped shortly before his meeting with Democratic senators, Biden indicated he was already narrowing down the list of contenders.

"I've taken about four people and done the deep dive on them," Biden told the network.

Pressed whether the conversation with Biden focused on four candidates - or a larger or smaller pool of contenders - Durbin and the other Democrats declined to comment. Durbin did say, though, that Biden told the lawmakers he hopes to begin interviewing nominees "soon."

Earlier in the week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Biden has been reviewing "binders of cases" authored by the potential candidates.

Biden has been courting senators from both sides of the aisle ahead of his decision

As the reviewing and winnowing happens behind closed doors, the most public aspect of Biden's nomination process has been a series of meetings and phone calls with senators.

The aggressive courting seems, at first glance, to fly in the face of Biden's recent vow to be less of a "president-senator," as he put it.

In the weeks since Breyer announced his retirement, Biden has repeatedly emphasized how much he wants to respect the Senate's constitutional role of "advice and consent" on nominations. Biden went as far to discuss his upcoming pick with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who famously blocked Obama nominee Merrick Garland's 2016 bid from ever coming to a vote, then pushed Justice Amy Coney Barrett's nomination through in the closing days of the 2020 presidential campaign.

Biden also met with Durbin and Republican Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, in the Oval Office. Biden and White House officials have continued to have conversations with lawmakers from both parties this week.

"Being a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the president has a unique understanding of the importance of these decisions, and of the 'advice' role of the Senate," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

"He looks forward to speaking with more Democrats and Republicans, in addition to consultations with a range of diverse legal experts and scholars," Bates said.

Biden had said he wanted to get away from being seen as a 'president-senator'

One indication of how much Biden has been thinking about his long tenure overseeing Supreme Court nominations as the Judiciary Committee chairman: Biden told Durbin and Grassley that he had recently spent time reviewing his own opening statements from decades-old confirmation hearings.

Psaki argued Biden's meetings and calls with lawmakers don't mark an immediate departure from that vow to stay away from being the "president-senator."

"I think what he was referring to in those comments was hours and hours and hours of endless closed-door meetings, as it related to negotiating through the course of the fall," Psaki said. "But this is an opening on the Supreme Court, which is a lifetime appointment. Which is something the president takes very seriously."

Supreme Court nominations can turn into intensely partisan fights

Biden was the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee for decades, and oversaw confirmations for several justices, including Breyer. He's boasted in recent weeks that he probably has more experience with court nominations than any other president.

When Biden looks back on his time in the Senate, he often waxes nostalgic about working with Republican colleagues. It's something he singled out about Breyer's time as a Judiciary Committee lawyer when the justice announced his retirement.

"He was famous for biking across Washington, virtually every day, for a face-to-face meeting with a Republican chief counsel, the ranking Republican counsel. And over breakfast they would discuss what they would do for the country together. Because in those days we tried to do things together," Biden said.

But Supreme Court nominations have often involved partisan battles, said University of Georgia law professor Lori Ringhand, who has written extensively about the process.

"There's never really been a long period of time where this has not had at least some controversy around it," she said.

While Biden oversaw smooth, bipartisan confirmations for justices like Breyer, he also chaired some of the most contentious hearings in recent memory: the Clarence Thomas confirmation, rocked by Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations, and the 1987 Robert Bork confirmation that Biden helped scuttle by focusing on how Bork viewed privacy rights.

This pick won't change the ideological balance of the court - so the fight may be less fractious

Ringhand said three main factors go into how contentious a confirmation is: the overall political mood of the country, whether the same party controls the White House and Senate, and whether the new justice would flip the balance of the court.

Despite the intense partisanship of today's Senate, the fact that Biden's nominee won't shift the ideological tilt of the court could bode for a less fractious fight.

Brian Fallon has often criticized Democrats for not being sharp-elbowed enough on court confirmations. But given the factors at play this time around, the executive director of Demand Justice said he doesn't see any harm for Biden to spend time courting Republicans.

"There's a difference between the vast majority of Republicans voting no on this pick, and them going on a total war footing on this nomination fight," Fallon said, adding that he also views Biden's Republican outreach as a way to soothe concerns of more moderate Democrats.

"As long as in their internal planning sessions they're fully coming to grips with the likelihood that most of the Senate Republicans are probably use the setting of the confirmation hearings to grandstand and oppose whoever he picks - as long as they're clear-eyed about that - I don't think there's any harm in doing any outreach," Fallon added.

Speaking to NBC on Thursday, Biden said he's still hoping to win some Republican votes for his eventual pick.

"I think whomever I pick will get a vote from the Republicans," Biden said. "I'm not looking to make an ideological choice. I'm looking for someone to replace Judge Breyer with the same kind of capacity Judge Breyer had: with an open mind."

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Biden says he's done a 'deep dive' on 4 Supreme Court candidates

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subscribe to The NPR Politics Podcast podcast With less than three weeks to go before his self-imposed deadline to nominate a new Supreme Court justice to replace the retiring Stephen Breyer, President Biden huddled Thursday evening with Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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In this Instagram post, a redwood forest in California has been permanently returned to its indigenous tribes. I immediately thought of our first week of class where we discussed how native peoples and their histories are overlooked in society and especially in our schools. In our schools, topics like Thanksgiving that educate students of the Native peoples of America always overlook the importance of the native peoples and teaches students the wrongful stereotypes of these people. Giving the native nations back the redwood forest helps to fix the errors of the education system and society. Giving the redwood forest back helps the native peoples to heal from the past as they finally are given back their homes after years and years of mistreatment, abuse, and neglect.

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This week I learned of MSU's 42nd Annual Jazz: Spirituals, Prayer and Protest Concert that was put to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his fight for Equality. The concert had a variety of pieces, bands, conductors, and other performers showing support and playing music in honor and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his prolonged fight for equality for all. The fight that he fought for is still being fought in today. Just this past few years we've had many protests spread across all 50 states and other countries. There's still a fight whether if Woman can have the rights to their own bodies or not, there's numerous voting laws that have been put out recently to inhibit many voters rights in many diverse areas, and the amount of school shootings and racist attacks have been on the rise. Many people across the world are tired of still having to fight for their rights, safety, and lives. This concert put on by many of the jazz bands here at MSU helps to make those voices heard. This concert shows support for many people who are tired of fighting, who are tired of having to stand up just so they can be themselves. The concert helped many people across our area to get together and to rise up together, to see that they are not alone, and to see that they are loved for who they are. People shouldn't have to fight for their rights and to be themselves, that should be able to be who they are. All of this is what Dr. Love talks about in her book that we read in TE 101. Dr. Love talks a lot about abolitionist teaching, about standing up against racism and inequality in the classroom. This is what MSU jazz is doing, everyone involved are abolitionist/abolitionist teachers as they are using their voice and power to speak up and stand up against inequality. They do this not only to pay homage to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, they are doing this to show that nobody is ever alone; nobody will ever have to fight this fight alone. This fight, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's fight, is everyone's fight. The abolitionist teaching of MSU Jazz is helping to fight inequality by showing support and raising awareness to the problem, showing everyone that they are not alone and that they are loved for who they are.

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The public is invited to enjoy a free jazz concert and presentation Sunday, Jan. 16, at 3 p.m. in Fairchild Theatre. The 42nd annual event " Jazz: Spirituals, Prayer and Protest " will showcase performances by MSU Jazz Orchestras led by guest conductor Charles Toliver, a celebrated trumpeter, band leader and composer. The concert will also feature guest performances by Damien Sneed, a multi-genre recording artist and instrumentalist who has worked with legendary jazz, classical, pop, and R&B musicians.

The concert is part of a week-long series of MSU events themed "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community," honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized by The MSU Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives. Please note that proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test along with masks are required for admittance to MSU events.
Livestream!

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Jazz: Spirituals, Prayer and Protest Concert

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The public is invited to enjoy a free jazz concert and presentation Sunday, Jan. 16, at 3 p.m. in Fairchild Theatre. The 42nd annual event " Jazz: Spirituals, Prayer and Protest " will showcase performances by MSU Jazz Orchestras led by guest conductor Charles Toliver, a celebrated trumpeter, band leader and composer.