WASHINGTON- The Senate is expected to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson at the Supreme Court Thursday making her the 116th justice – and first Black woman – to serve on the nation’s highest court.
Three Republicans are expected to join every member of the Democratic Caucus in confirming her. . Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah joined have already expressed their support of Jackson.
President Joe Biden nominated Jackson in February, after Associate Justice Stephen Breyer announced he would retire at the end of the current court term. If confirmed, Jackson will wait months to take her seat on the benchuntil Breyer officially steps down.
While Jackson’s ascension would not change the ideological makeup of the court – where conservatives hold a 6-3 advantage – she will be the first federal public defender to sit on the high court. Of the 115 justices in the Supreme Court’s 233 year history, 108 have been white men. Only five have been women, and three have been people of color.
If Jackson takes her seat, it will mark the first time the court’s nine member bench will include two Black justices and four female justices.
Jackson currently serves on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, a role she was appointed to by Biden. She previously served as a US District Court judge, a position she was appointed by former President Barack Obama. Before that, the Harvard Law School graduate served vice chair of the US Sentencing Commission, and as a federal public defender.
Jackson, a former clerk for Breyer, was considered a front-runner for Biden’s first Supreme Court nomination. Her expected confirmation of her would mark the fourth time she was confirmed by the Senate. She was confirmed to her role as ella on the Court of Appeals with bipartisan support last year, with GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joining Sens. Collins and Murkowski in voting for her.
Jackson’s nomination marks a fulfillment of Biden’s campaign promise to nominate a Black woman to the high court. During a primary debate in South Carolina in 2020, Biden said “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court, to make sure we in fact get every representation.”
With much of Biden’s agenda held up in the 50-50 Senate, Jackson’s confirmation would be one of the lasting legacies of his first term.
More:Jackson likely confirmed in a hurry. Getting on the Supreme Court? That’ll take time.
Despite her earlier confirmations, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Jackson’s nomination still took an acrimonious turn.
While Republican members of the committee largely praised Jackson’s character and demeanor, they accused her of being soft on crime – in particular, they said she offered too lenient sentences in a number of child pornography cases. GOP Senators on the committee like Graham, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Josh Hawley of Missouri led the crusade against Jackson. In addition to her record of her on sentencing, they pushed Jackson on hot political topics like gender, packing the court, and critical race theory. Some Republicans also took issue with her defending Guantanamo Bay detainees as a public defender.
Democrats, meanwhile, have stressed the historic nature of Jackson’s nomination and what it means to have a Black woman join the court.
During one of hearings, Jackson teared up as Sen. Cory Booker, DN.J., the only Black senator on the Judiciary Committee and one of only three Black senators, spoke about how meaningful her nomination was to him.
“You have earned this spot. You are worthy,” Booker told Jackson.
“I’m sorry, you’re a person that is so much more than your race and gender,” he said. “But for me, I’m sorry, it’s hard for me not to look at you and not see my mom, not to see my cousins… I see my ancestors and yours.”
Contributing: John Fritze
www.usatoday.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism