The first Black woman nominated to the US Supreme Court by President Joe Biden will be a "beneficiary" of affirmative action, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said Friday.

"The irony is that the Supreme Court is at the very same time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota," he said Friday in an interview with local radio network SuperTalk Mississippi, referring to the high court's recent decision to reconsider challenges to race-based affirmative action in college admissions.

"The majority of the court may be saying writ large it's unconstitutional. We'll see how that irony works out," he added.