Ketanji Brown Jackson Is the First Black Woman Nominated to the Supreme Court
President Joe Biden has selected Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee for the Supreme Court to fill Justice Stephen Breyer's soon-to-be vacant seat. A source confirmed to CNN that Jackson, who currently sits on Washington, DC’s federal appeals court, accepted Biden's offer in a phone call last night. If she is confirmed, she would become the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court.
While campaigning for president in 2020, Biden promised to nominate a Black woman, vowing, "The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It's long overdue in my view."
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, clerked for Justice Breyer during the 1999-2000 Supreme Court term. She worked as a federal public defender, and was a commissioner on the US Sentencing Commission. President Barack Obama appointed Jackson to DC's federal district court, before President Biden placed her on the appellate court last year—making her twice-confirmed by the Senate.
"I come from a background of public service. My parents were in public service, my brother was a police officer and [was] in the military, and being in the public defenders’ office felt very much like the opportunity to help with my skills and talents," she said during her confirmation hearing last year. She was born in Washington DC, but grew up in Miami, and is married to a surgeon, Patrick G. Jackson. She's also related by marriage to Paul D. Ryan, the former Republican speaker of the house.
In late January, Breyer announced his plans to retire at the end of the current Supreme Court term, clearing the way for President Joe Biden to nominate a justice to the nation's highest court. Breyer, 83, is the oldest justice on the Supreme Court, and part of the Court's liberal minority alongside Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor. He has been under pressure to retire, motivated by the experience of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September 2020 and was replaced by President Donald Trump's nominee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Breyer’s brother, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, said his brother knew of the campaign for him to retire, telling the Washington Post, "he thought he should take into account the fact that this was an opportunity for a Democratic president—and he was appointed by a Democratic president—to fill his position with someone who is like-minded."
Charles Breyer added: "He did not want to die on the bench."
Ahead of the nomination of Jackson, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) said that Biden’s nominee would be "considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed."
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