Biden playing three-dimensional chess

[RobDownSouth]

With the tie in the Senate, things have changed overnight for Joe Biden.

I understand he was planning to nominate Sally Yates for Attorney General, but now that the Dems control the Senate, he will nominate DC Court Of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland for the role. This will in turn create an opening in the court of appeals, and Biden has the votes to put a very liberal African American woman into this lifetime position.

 

[Wrong Element]

With the tie in the Senate, things have changed overnight for Joe Biden.

I understand he was planning to nominate Sally Yates for Attorney General, but now that the Dems control the Senate, he will nominate DC Court Of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland for the role. This will in turn create an opening in the court of appeals, and Biden has the votes to put a very liberal African American woman into this lifetime position.

It might be more about getting a young-ish black woman on to the Appeals Court in advance of Breyer's retirement. In the modern era, Supreme Court justices typically come from an appeals court (I think Kagan is the only exception on the current Court). Biden has promised to put a black woman on the Supreme Court, but I don't think there's a black woman on an appeals court currently who is young enough to make for a suitable Court nominee.

That's not too different from what Bush did with Clarence Thomas. When Thomas was put on the DC Circuit, everyone knew he was there to get experience in case the Thurgood Marshall seat opened up during a Republican administration.