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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 hear ....
drama. we re going to have more on that in a moment. the president s standing by his campaign pledge to nominate the first black woman to the court. the question remains, however, who will that person be? and will the process be completed before the midterm elections. we are also following some breaking news on the economy. thankfully some good news. in the last year the u.s. economy grew at the fastest rate since 1984. this according to a new report out this morning, we re going to have much more on that coming up. but first cnn justice correspondent jessica schneider and white house correspondent jeremy diamond are standing by with more on the news about justice brierbreyer stepping down. how do we expect this to play out timing-wise? we re still waiting to hear from justice breyer directly or potentially a statement from the supreme court. we re expecting maybe that will come later this morning, early afternoon. but a source has told kaitlan collins that ....
who that will be. also, how long it will take to get her confirmed. the legal and political aspects of that. supreme court reporter ariane de vo vogue. there s an interesting two track thing. he stays until the end of the term but start the process now. right. well, for years, the process was usually between two to three months. there was the pick and then the vet and the nominee would go and visit with all the senators but all that changed, remember, with justice amy coney barrett. the republicans really pushed it, compressed it from announcement to confirmation. it was about 30 days. so you could see here the democrats moving very quickly. they could have hearings, they could even have a vote and then the president wouldn t sign off on the commission until after the term, right? when breyer has finished on the term. on the other hand, timing is interesting because this hearing is about a lot more than the nominee. first of all, it s going to be, as you said, the fir ....
the vacancy is a cherished legacy moment for any president. the timing of this one makes it all the more consequential for this president. president biden promises history, a black woman, he says, will be his nominee. and just that is giant. plus the confirmation process adds interest to the midterm election year. a chance for the president and his fellow democrats to reset a political landscape that, up until now, is tilted decidedly in the republicans favor. that opportunity officially begins in just a few moments when the president and justice breyer appear together at the white house. chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins is there. a giant moment for the president. a huge moment. but we re expecting this to be a small ceremony actually, john, here at the white house where president biden will formally announce that justice breyer is retiring from the supreme court. of course, therefore, giving him that coveted vacancy where he can then select someone to ....
and it includes history. listen. i have made no decision except one. the person i will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. and that person will be the first black woman ever nominated to the united states supreme court. it s long overdue in my opinion. i made that commitment during the campaign for president, and i will keep that commitment. get to our chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins at the white house. the president said he didn t want to share much about what comes next but he shared an historic deal. it s also notable he put a timeline on here saying he will, his intention is to let everyone know who his nominee is by the end of february. so what that is going to kick off internally at the white house is a very extensive process of vetting. and the president has already he said he s been looking at the backgrounds of potential replacements. he s going to study this carefully. he ll l ....