meet with several of the top candidates. ketanji brown jackson, the president already met with her last february, actually, when he nominated her to that d.c. circuit court of appeals. but the other candidates, those meetings will be crucial, of course, crucial step in this nomination and confirmation process. >> justice breyer will have served 28 years on the court by the time he formally steps down. we should note he was approved by 87 votes, quite a different change in the landscape in washington today. jessica schneider and jeremy diamond, thank you. well, while president biden has dealt with interparty politics with its legislative agenda, holdout senators joe manchin and kyrsten sinema always voted with party for biden's lower court nominees. >> and not inconsequential fact, but like all votes in the senate, a slight margin, biden's first challenge to a nominee will likely come from the senate judiciary committee. melanie zanona with us now. melanie, the republicans have a