Skip to content

Thursday, Mar. 31, 2022

Did Joe Biden oppose the first Black woman nominated for the Supreme Court?

Christiana Dillard, Lead Stories

no

The judge in question, Janice Rogers Brown, was never nominated for the Supreme Court. George W. Bush was considering her as a replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor, but chose Samuel Alito instead.

Bush nominated Brown for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Democrats, including then-Sen. Joe Biden, opposed many of the Republican president's court nominations. Brown's nomination was filibustered by Democrats for two years until a vote ended the filibuster, resulting in Brown's confirmation.

Biden did suggest he would oppose Brown for the Supreme Court if she was nominated for that position.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.

Learn More

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.