Kamala Harris could become a U.S. Supreme Court justice - media outlet
Kyiv • UNN
Justice Sonia Sotomayor could retire, allowing Biden to nominate Harris to fill her seat. Democrats have a majority in the Senate through January, giving them a chance to confirm the nominee.
Attorney Bakari Sellers, who was a Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives for eight years, said 70-year-old liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor could retire from the Supreme Court, allowing President Joe Biden to nominate Harris, reports UNN citing Newsweek.
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Harris was San Francisco's district attorney and California's attorney general before being elected senator and then vice president. While the election of an attorney with no judicial experience to the court is unusual, it is not unprecedented.
President Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagan to be a Supreme Court justice, even though she has never been a judge. Chief Justice John Roberts served on the Washington, D.C., appeals court for two years before being nominated.
Looking at the four independent party-backed members, Democrats currently hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, which votes with a simple majority on the president's Supreme Court nominees.
Republicans just won a majority in the Senate in the Nov. 5 election, but new senators won't take their seats until January, giving Biden a short window of time to nominate a Supreme Court justice if Sotomayor agrees to step down.
