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The unidentified
lawyer was contacted this week and was asked about Jackson's
tenure on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
in the context of her being a potential nominee for the Supreme
Court, the Journal said.
The lawyer described the conversation, which lasted less than 30
minutes, as a "preliminary inquiry," the Journal reported.
The White House did not respond immediately to a request for
comment on the Journal story.
President Barack Obama is expected to announce a nominee in the
next several weeks to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died
on Feb. 13.
Scalia's death left the court with four liberals and four
conservatives, and Republican leaders in the Senate have vowed
to block anyone Obama nominates. The Senate must confirm the
nominee.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a moderate Republican, took
himself out of consideration for appointment to the Supreme
Court this week after his name surfaced as a possible nominee.
If nominated and confirmed Jackson, 45, would be the first
African-American woman on the Supreme Court.
She was confirmed to the federal district court in Washington in
March 2013.
During her confirmation hearing, she received support from U.S.
House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who is related to
her by marriage, the Journal reported. Jackson's husband,
Patrick Jackson, is the twin brother of Ryan's brother-in-law
William Jackson.
Jackson served as a federal public defender in Washington and
then at a law firm. In 2010, she was appointed to the U.S.
Sentencing Commission.
(Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Paul Tait)
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