President Joe Biden listens as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks at the White House, February 25, 2022 (Getty)

President Joe Biden has nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the US Supreme Court.

Jackson, currently on the US District Court in Washington DC, will be the first Black woman on the court.

A “person close to the White House2 said preparations for Senate confirmation hearings will begin this weekend, with visits to legislators next week.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to hold the confirmation vote by Easter, April 17. However, the White House is raising the prospect of an even quicker process, noting that the Trump Administration and then Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rushed through the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in only 27 days last October.

On Friday, Biden introduced Jackson by noting her work for Justice Breyer and her experience as a public defender.

Jackson would be the first public defender to make it to the Court.

Former Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe noted the significance for Biden, who was also a public defender,

It spoke to Biden in an important way. He understood, in a way that a President who had not himself been a public defender, might not have been able to understand just what that meant and why it gave her a distinctive perspective.

Tribe, who recommended Brown to the White House, said the judge further appealed to Biden because of her empathy, “She’s very good at understanding where other people are coming from.”

Biden interviewed Jackson on February 14, and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger last week.

On Thursday, Biden informed Jackson that he was putting her forward.