welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. it is thursday, january 27th. i m john berman with brianna keilar. just a few hours from now, the fight officially begins to fill the next vacancy on the nation s highest court. president biden and stephen breyer expected to officially announce breyer s retirement at the white house. obviously this has major historical and political implications. so here s a look at the supreme court vacancy by the numbers. 108 of the 115 u.s. justices have been white men. the other seven, two black men and five women. it s been 28 years since bill clinton and breyer showed off their running legs in short-shorts. just another reason to love the 90s. 28 years since then senator biden presided over briar s nomination. six years since former president obama announced now attorney general merrick garland to fill antonin scalia s seat. that didn t work out. 1,239 days since one of the most heated confirmation hearings i
candidates backgrounds and writings, i ve made no decision except one the person i will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity, and that will be if first black woman ever nominated to the united states supreme court. it s long overdue in my view. i made that commitment during the campaign for president, and i will keep that commitment. i will fully do what i said i d do. as we mentioned yesterday when the news was first breaking, breyer s retirement is supremely good timing for the president and his party, a chance for democrats to refocus their midterm messaging, reenergizing the base, and reengage on issues ranging from abortion rights and voting and more that might play in their favor in a midterm election cycle. senate democrats could move quickly on this once biden chooses a nominee next month. democrats are aiming to confirm the pick as soon as possible, maybe with the same warp speed that republicans confir
will respect breyer s timeline for any official announcement. we re coming on the air with breaking news. nbc news learned stephen g. breyer will step down as a justice on the supreme court. there s been no announcement from justice breyer. let him make whatever statement he s going to make and i will be happy to talk about it later. the president saying he won t talk specifics yet, a matter of respect and decorum, but news this big waits for no one. the u.s. senate gearing up for a major confirmation clash going into the mid-terms. a senator with a vote on the matter joins our special coverage later on tonight s show and white house staff already outlining some of the likely plans. breyer expected to announce his retirement as early as tomorrow officially. reports are he would leave at the end of this term, giving the white house plenty of time to select and push a nominee. now, is that breyer s way of also shaping the timing of his own replacement process? i actually
report. a cover-up that is at least as damning as any i have heard of in the last few years. u.s. and its allies prepare for war both actual and economic. we don t believe that mr. putin has made a final decision. we still think there is time and space for diplomacy. couple of jaunts for ice cream, joe hasn t spent much time out. let s see, um, he, um, he would say he doesn t have enough free time on his schedule. it will be baby just let it be if it s meant to be it will be ainsley: well, it is meant to be that we are back in the studio. it is january 26th that we are back together. it s been it was a few weeks we were out. and. steve: working remotely. ainsley: it is really nice to be back. i saw that carley and todd are back, too. steve: just in time because, according to the weather forecasters, this weekend, here in new york city, 1 or 2 feet of snow could fall. and there could be 50 and 60 or 70 mile-per-hour winds. so it looks like it s going
the top name in speculation right now judge katanji brown jackson, joe biden recently appointed to the d.c. circuit court of appeals to replace merrick garland. jackson is a former clerk of justice breyer, confirmed in a 53-44 majority by the senate. joining me is nbc news justice correspondent pete williams, chief legal correspondent and host of the beat ari melber, kelly o donnell and slate legal correspondent dahlia lithwick. pete, you broke this news. justice breyer himself has not announced it or made it official but can you tell us anything about the decision-making process behind his decision to retire? well, our understanding is he came to this decision within the last several weeks. he s obviously in good health. he is 83. he s the court s oldest member but that apparently did not his age or health did not play a part in this. we re told he s well aware of the current political climate. in the past supreme sort justices did not time their decisions in terms o