romania, and bulgaria. that does bring them closer to russia s doorstep. again, it s not ukraine, and biden has been categorical they are not combat troops, and they will not fight. how much power do they have here to scare putin? that s another critical question. russia has ukraine surrounded on three sides, 127,000 troops stationed around ukraine s border, and as top u.s. officials have said again and again, there is no sign right now that russia is backing down. matthew chance is out front live in kyiv, ukraine. i know you have been talking to officials there tonight as we await putin s response to america s, you know, written list of concessions and responses. what are they telling you? well, i mean, despite those raising tensions that you just set out, there s been some pretty upbeat remarks tonight, erin from the ukrainian officials that we have been in contact with. first of all, they have told us
i want to ask about that in a moment. norm, will let me ask you about who is going to replace justice breyer first as this process begins. biden was clear throughout the campaign about who he would name to the court in specific ways. here he is. i m looking forward to making sure there s a black woman on the supreme court. number one, i commit that if i m elected president, have an opportunity to appoint someone to the courts i ll appoint the first black woman to the courts tv it s long overdue. we re putting together a list of a group of african-american women who are qualified and have the experience to be in the court. and the white house said tonight, norm, that biden stands by that pledge. is it a good thing for the president to be so open and blatant about the fact that being a black woman is a requirement for the job? erin, the supreme court is the most undemocratic of our power centers in american
almost three decades because progressives want to have that chance before the november midterm elections to get a biden nominee to the court. so big news today justice stephen breyer, we ve learned, will, in fact, retire. john? look, the justices all say they try to shield the court from politics. they shield themselves from politics. as you mentioned justice breyer served as an aid to ted kennedy for a long time. he also understands the pressure on him. the raw politics if the republicans take control of the senate and if breyer waited much longer and we were after the november elections and republicans were going to take power in january mitch mcconnell would make clear we won t take up a biden pick. there will be a fight over any biden pick but at least now the president gets to make his pick while he has a 50/50 democratic senate with the vice president kamala harris making the key deciding vote. reporter: exactly. and still plenty of time left in the court s term. usually they
going to present to the president when he makes the formal announcement he is retiring, stepping down from the court, and you know, they say timing is everything. that statement is never more true than when it comes to the supreme court, and this has prompted a sigh of relief from democrats who were worried about republicans taking over the senate majority come the midterms this november, and so this is certainly welcome from the white house but they are being very hesitant here and declining to say anything publicly about this until the official announcement has come down from justice breyer who we will see here at the white house tomorrow i m told with president biden. of course that would likely be the official announcement, and we ll wait to see that, but yeah, justice breyer did tell the white house, conveyed to the white house that he did have the intention to step down t. that is not something he said to president biden directly. the white house was aware, maybe just a few peopl
pressure for him to step down. most of the considerations in mind and i simply have to weigh them and think about them and decide when the proper time is. i have also said that i hope i don t die on the supreme court. reporter: any nominee of president biden s succeed justice breyer would maintain the 6-3 ideological split. bill clinton, nominated breyer, then a federal judge in boston in 1994. he was confirmed, 87-9. he quickly established himself as one of the supreme court s moderate liberals who believed that interpreting the constitution must be practical, changing with the times. the reason that i do that is because law in jenny think grows out of communities in people who have some problems they want to solve. reporter: he wrote the court s opinion striking down a state law that banned some long-term abortions. he supported affirmative action and other civil rights measure. in a widely noted dissent in