Democrats’ Wins in Georgia Means Stacey Abrams’s Sister Could Be Appointed to Supreme Court

The Democratic Party’s two wins in the U.S. Senate runoff races in Georgia this week has fueled speculation that federal district court Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, who is Stacey Abrams’s sister, could be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Abrams ran unsuccessfully for governor of Georgia in 2018, but never conceded that she lost, claiming voter suppression. She went on to found Fair Fight, an organization that pushed for changes to voting rules and organized turnout in minority communities. Her work is largely credited for helping Democrats increase their turnout in the 2020 race and 2021 runoff.

Gardner, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, presided over a closely-watched case over voter eligibility in Georgia last month. Refusing to recuse herself, Judge Gardner initially ruled against efforts to disqualify voters who had changed their addresses, then reversed her ruling, deciding that those voters would have to case provisional ballots.

Gardner could soon be appointed to the appellate level — and from there, it would be a short hop to the Supreme Court:

Justice Stephen Breyer is 82 years old, and will face pressure to retire, given Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death last year.

President-elect Joe Biden promised last year to name a black woman to the Supreme Court, but declined to make a list public.

Breitbart News reported at the time:

Two candidates have emerged in media speculation: Justice Leondra Kruger of the California Supreme Court; and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is a district judge in Washington, D.C.

Kruger’s appointment in 2014 was criticized at the time, as she had never practiced law in California. Jackson has frequently issued rulings and injunctions against the Trump administration and its policies.

With their victories, Democrats reached 50-50 parity with Republicans in the Senate, and effective control of the upper chamber, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’s tie-breaking vote. That will ease future judicial confirmations.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.