Joe Biden didn't squarely endorse Clinton. | Getty Joe Biden endorses Hillary Clinton

Vice President Joe Biden backed Hillary Clinton on Thursday, hours after President Barack Obama issued his own endorsement of the former secretary of state.

Biden, speaking Thursday night at the American Constitution Society convention a few blocks from the White House, didn't squarely endorse Clinton. But he made his preferences clear in what seemed like an unplanned aside amid remarks about the need to confirm fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans have refused to grant a hearing to Obama's nominee, federal judge Merrick Garland, let alone a floor vote.


"Keep in mind, we have another entire term of this potential confusion if the vote is not allowed this year. Anybody who thinks that whatever the next president — and God willing, in my view, it'll be Secretary Clinton," Biden said. "Now, I don't say that for political reasons, but whoever it is, even if it is a Democrat, the idea this will be brought up within a month or two or three is highly unlikely."

Biden, who was considering a White House bid of his own before the death of his son Beau, had remained steadfastly neutral in the Democratic primary, though at times he seemed to favor Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' broadsides about the "billionaire class" and an economy rigged against the "99 percent."

In January, Biden praised Sanders' focus on inequality and said it was “relatively new for Hillary to talk about” those sorts of issues.

“Hillary’s focus has been other things up to now, and that’s been Bernie’s — no one questions Bernie’s authenticity on those issues,” Biden said.

The vice president never fully abandoned his own presidential ambitions, telling ABC's Robin Roberts in May, "I think I would have been the best president."