WASHINGTON — White House allies say they’re confident Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court will shape President Joe Biden’s legacy long after he leaves office — even if the appointment does not offer Democrats a political boost in time for November’s midterm elections.
For a president besieged by surprise crises from new coronavirus variants to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the unexpected opening on the Supreme Court allowed Biden to reassert control over his own presidency and fulfill a promise of special importance to his most loyal base of supporters.
Prominent Biden allies say that putting the first Black woman on the Supreme Court will play a consequential role in how future generations of Americans view his tenure, particularly if Jackson continues to serve on the high court for decades after he exits politics.
“I hope it is viewed as a positive turning point,” said Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat and close ally of Biden’s. “I hope that the public now appreciates the significance of the confirmation of Justice Jackson. But I am confident that the public in the future will realize the significance of this moment.”
Jackson’s confirmation comes at a critical moment in Biden’s presidency, with his presidential approval rating near a personal all-time low and federal elections just months away. Since the fall of last year, Biden has struggled to control surging inflation, a persistent pandemic and members of his own political party, who have stalled part of his legislative agenda. Those setbacks have prevented the president from restoring the sense of normalcy he promised the country during his campaign and enacting the sweeping societal changes he envisioned.
But Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement announcement this winter presented a constructive opportunity, allies say, one in which the president had considerably more influence than other issues plaguing the White House. That Jackson’s nomination was never in serious doubt and eventually won the support of three Republican senators reinforced the perception that the former Judiciary Committee chairman handled the process capably.
“Unfortunately he cannot, by himself, control the coronavirus,” said former Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, who served with Biden in the Senate for a dozen years. “Or dictate all the details of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
“A human being can be only held accountable for what they have the ability to control,” she continued. “And he himself, one man, he himself can personally determine who his nominee is going to be. He made a promise, and he kept a promise.”
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn said that he expects Biden, who pledged publicly to appoint a Black woman at a South Carolina presidential primary debate, to build upon the success of Jackson’s confirmation.
“I think he’s going to keep plugging along, keep doing the things he promised to, keep doing the things that need to get done. And I think that at some point in the not-too-distant future people will see what that’s all about, and I think he’ll be rewarded successfully,” Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said in an interview.
HISTORIC SUPREME COURT APPOINTMENTS
Supreme Court appointments have always been among the most meaningful areas of a president’s legacy. Dwight Eisenhower’s selection, for instance, of former Chief Justice Earl Warren left an enduring mark on the country’s legal system, expanding civil rights and ending school segregation.
Jackson’s nomination in particular could influence views of Biden’s legacy, presidential historians say, because of the historic nature of the pick.
“Anytime racial, gender or ethnic barriers are broken on the court, it’s a milestone in history,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian from Princeton University. “And that’s part of what the president has done.”
Zelizer cautioned that Biden wasn’t able to change the court’s ideological makeup in the way former President Donald Trump did with his appointment of three Supreme Court justices, potentially tempering the appointment’s impact. Jackson will replace Breyer, who regularly sided with liberals during his tenure, maintaining conservatives’ 6-3 edge on the court.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that in spite of the international turmoil and domestic challenges the president is facing, his administration intends to celebrate Jackson’s confirmation and it expects many Americans to do the same.
“I can’t make a prediction on what that will mean for polls, and it’s really not about that for us,” she added.
BIDEN’S LEGISLATIVE HEADWINDS
Biden had some help this week from Barack Obama, who he had lunch with Tuesday at the White House prior to an East Room event celebrating the former president’s signature legislative achievement.
Obama reflected on his dedication to getting the Affordable Care Act passed into law, despite worries it might cost him reelection. He told assembled Democratic lawmakers and Biden administration officials that sometimes “progress feels way too slow” and “victories are often incomplete,” but the episode is evidence of what is possible for elected officials who follow their convictions in the face of obstacles and criticism.
“President Joe Biden understands that. He has dedicated his life to the proposition that there’s something worthy about public service and that the reason to run for office is for days like today,” Obama said.
Psaki insisted that Obama’s message was not about the midterms but acknowledged it “sounds pretty similar to what we’re working on today” as she noted that the former president also talked about overcoming skepticism, Republican dissenters and division within his own political party.
In an interview, Clyburn, who attended the Obama event, compared Biden to former President Harry Truman during his first term, pointing out that Truman’s presidential approval rating plummeted after he integrated the armed services.
“Now people look back and talk about him being in the top 10,” Clyburn said of Truman, who won election to a second term. “So, Joe Biden is doing what he needs to do for the country. And let the polling and the headline seekers do what they want to do.”
Coons said that when the chapter is written about this period in Biden’s presidency, it would reflect that the “president managed to nominate the right person, we got through the hearings, and we got her confirmed in the middle of war breaking out in Europe.”
“And that President Biden has managed both of those in a way that I think has moved us forward, domestically and internationally, might be a positive piece of his legacy,” Coons said.
BOOST WITH BLACK VOTERS?
Jackson was, according to polls, one of the most popular Supreme Court nominees in recent times. A Gallup survey released in March found that 58% of Americans supported her confirmation, higher than all but one former nominee (current Chief Justice John Roberts) in the last 30 years. Just 30% of adults opposed her confirmation.
But even Biden allies doubt that Jackson’s apparent popularity will drive up the president’s approval rating.
“I think she will enhance Joe Biden’s reputation because he put her on the court,” said former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who endorsed Biden’s last presidential bid. “I wish we existed in a political system where the quality of a Supreme Court nominee affected the president’s popularity, but we don’t.”
Still, some Democratic strategists hope Jackson’s confirmation can have a meaningful, if limited, impact on Biden’s political base, including Black voters.
Despite voting for him by overwhelming numbers during the 2020 election, the group’s approval of Biden has dropped in recent months: An NBC News poll from March found that just 62% of African Americans approved of his job performance.
Many Black voters feel frustrated at what they perceive to be Biden’s lack of progress since taking office, said Terrance Woodbury, a Democratic strategist who conducts regular research on the political views of African American voters. But the strategist said he’s seen signs in recent focus groups that Jackson’s confirmation will ease some of their concerns.
“A Black voter told me this represents his commitment to fulfill his campaign promises, which is just as important as his commitment to the Black community,” said Woodbury, who regularly moderates focus groups with Black voters.
Still, he cautions that Jackson’s confirmation is only part of the solution for Biden, who he says must do a better job reaching out to and communicating with Black voters.
Other political strategists say even then, concerns about inflation are weighing on voters across the board, including African Americans.
“It’s hard to see how the calculus changes for Democrats when families are worried about whether they can put food on the table or gas in their tank to get to work tomorrow,” said Calvin Moore, spokesman for the Republican super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund. “Until they fix these kitchen table issues, everything else is just background noise.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said that part of what has to happen is that Democrats have to get out of the Washington, D.C., bubble and into communities to talk about the president’s achievements and the party’s plan to bring down inflation and reduce costs for average Americans.
“This president, and Democrats in the House and Senate, are committed to that, and so I think as we go out and tell our story, and go across the country to rural communities and urban communities, I think you will start to see the winds of change blowing in a different direction.”
Jackson is expected to take her seat on the court this summer, after Breyer leaves the court. Some Democrats say the true impact of Biden’s decision will start to be felt then, dismissing the debate over whether she’ll help the party win races during the upcoming election.
“Will it make a difference? God only knows,” said former Democratic Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. “I am very, very leery, respectful, but leery of the pundits and pollsters who are forecasting the outcome with great confidence, in many cases before a single person who has cast a single vote.”
“The leadership we need is looking past the next election,” he added. “And that’s what we’re getting from this president.”
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