U.S. Supreme Court to get first black woman justice after 232 years
U.S. President Joe Biden has nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court on Friday, according to the White House.
Jackson, who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, will be the first black woman serving on the country’s highest court if the Senate confirms the nomination.
Jackson will break the court’s 232-year history if confirmed.
The nomination came about a month after Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, a longtime liberal, said that he was about to retire this summer after nearly three decades on the bench.
Jackson clerked for Breyer in the 1999-2000 term.
The White House said in a statement that Biden had “conducted a rigorous process” to identify Breyer’s replacement and “sought an individual who is committed to equal justice under the law and who understands the profound impact that the Supreme Court’s decisions have on the lives of the American people.”
“Judge Jackson is an exceptionally qualified nominee” as well as a historic nominee, the statement read. “The Senate should move forward with a fair and timely hearing and confirmation.”
Who is Ketanji Brown Jackson?
She was born September 14, 1970.
She is an American attorney and jurist serving as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2021.
Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Miami, Florida, Jackson attended Harvard University for college and law school, where she served as an editor on the Harvard Law Review. She began her legal career with three clerkships, including one with U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. Prior to her elevation to an appellate court and from 2013 to 2021, she served as a district judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Jackson was also vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014. Since 2016, she has been a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers.
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