Biden interviews three SCOTUS candidates, plans to have replacement by end of February

The fact that Biden is planning to deliver his first State of the Union address this upcoming Tuesday leads many to believe it's the kind of deadline for when the administration will name a SCOTUS nominee.

Over in The New York Times, they frame the White House's selection process as being under the pressure of the Ukraine - Russia conflict currently unfolding. This as it takes up both Biden's attention in addition to an increasing amount of the general public's.

According to the outlet, Biden's list of candidates he's interviewed is as follows:

Ketanji Brown Jackson was stationed by Biden to the DC Court of Appeals in early 2021. The 51-year-old is labeled as a frontrunner by POLITICO from her Harvard background and connection to the DC area through crucial portions of her early career.

Leondra R. Kruger is a California Supreme Court Judge who was a Supreme Court law clerk, with a Yale background that lines up with the current SCOTUS makeup. A profile last month touted Kruger's track record of a dozen Supreme Court arguments despite her relatively young age of 45, if brought forward as the nominee by Biden.

J. Michelle Childs is a South Carolina judge for the Federal District Court. On the one hand, POLITICO concedes that she meets the requirements in terms of education background and closeness to the White House, but their profile of Childs also claims some key parts of her career as a lawyer might get in the way.

Despite the previous promise of nominating a black woman to the role, Biden has since said he vows to not make an "ideological choice" for the SCOTUS nominee.

They'd have a "mainstream interpretation of the Constitution," Biden said in an interview with NBC's Lester Holt earlier this month.

Lobbyist Jeff Peck told The New York Times that the State of the Union is the likely deadline for Biden to make up his mind. "He will do it when he is ready and when he has decided, but I do think there’s an outside bookend here, in part because of the State of the Union."

After the initial retirement announcement by Justice Breyer last month, the Biden administration has seemingly narrowed down their list of candidates from the initial net of five or more speculated by Bloomberg.

The way Biden handled the confirmation hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas when he was a Senator has left a lasting memory.

The way that the Biden administration panned out in their first year ended up putting a lot of the daily bearings on the shoulders of White House chief of staff Ron Klain. This reputation was made obvious in a recent POLITICO report last month.

But on the issue of picking a SCOTUS replacement, Klain's familiarity with Biden's thinking is said to come more handy. Klain himself having experience clerking for Justice Alito and serving as advisers to former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are touted as necessary to guide Biden at this point in his tenure.

While other advisers to Biden on the SCOTUS matter include people in his more immediate circles like Cedric Richmond and Vice President Kamala Harris, it also extends outwards to the likes of Senator Grassley in what's described as the White House placing an emphasis on the process.