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The expected retirement of Justice Stephen G. Breyer this year abruptly puts a renewed spotlight on a small circle of Black female jurists who are positioned to be chosen as President Biden’s first pick to the Supreme Court, potentially marking a milestone in the country’s history. That shortlist, which could grow, is topped by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was confirmed last year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as one of Biden’s first judicial nominees. Brown is a favorite of the Democrats’ liberal base, in part because of her history as a former public defender, an unusual background for a Supreme Court justice. (Kim and Marimow, 1/26)

Only two African Americans, Justices Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, have served on the nation’s highest court, and only one woman of color has been a justice — Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is Latina. And Black women aren’t just unrepresented on the Supreme Court, they are also massively underrepresented on the federal bench. And they were even more so before Biden took office. Nearly all recent justices previously served on a federal appeals court before getting promoted to the high court. Of the nine current justices, only Justice Elena Kagan did not. But, when Biden took office, only five of the nearly 300 sitting federal appellate judges were Black women, according to the Federal Judicial Center. Biden has doubled that number, placing five more Black women on the federal appellate bench. (Millhiser, 1/26)

There are comparatively few Black women in the highest reaches of the federal judiciary, though Biden has been active in bolstering those numbers as part of a broader emphasis on diversifying the courts, both in terms of demographics and professional background. (Niedzwiadek, 1/26)

Dozens of candidates are being talked about, but nearly all of the Court watchers I interviewed for this story have their money on one in particular: Ketanji Brown Jackson. Jackson, who is 51, fulfills a lot of requirements for the establishment set. She has the same Ivy League credentials as the sitting justices, having earned both her undergraduate and her law degree from Harvard and edited for the Harvard Law Review. She clerked for three federal judges—including Breyer, from 1999 to 2000. If nominated and confirmed, Jackson will follow the same track as Brett Kavanaugh, who also clerked for the justice he ultimately replaced. Also like Kavanaugh—and seven other current and former justices—Jackson would be coming directly from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the second-most important court in the country after the Supreme Court. (Godfrey, 1/26)

Days after President Biden was sworn in last year, one of his top congressional allies went to the White House with the name of a judge he believed should be appointed to the Supreme Court. The ally, Representative James E. Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, told Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House counsel, Dana Remus, that whenever an opening emerged on the court, Mr. Biden should nominate a little-known federal judge in his home state: J. Michelle Childs. (Schmidt, 1/26)

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s plans to retire set off immediate speculation about who would take his seat on the bench. Near the top of the list is a Californian named Leondra Kruger. In 2014, former Gov. Jerry Brown tapped Kruger, then 38, for the state Supreme Court, where she still sits today. (DeRuy, 1/26)