Ketanji Brown Jackson: First Black Female Judge Confirmed to Supreme Court
This is yet another milestone recorded in the 233-year history of the US Supreme Court as the Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black female Associate of Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Judge Jackson’s appointment was confirmed on Thursday, April 7th, 2022 with 50 Democrats sealed with three Republicans voting in favour and 47 Republicans voting against her nomination. Headed by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is, in herself, the First Black woman to serve in that capacity, Judge Jackson’s confirmation would come as a fulfillment of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to make a black woman preside over the court, hence her endorsement by the President on February 25, 2022. The President has taken to Twitter to share the picture of him and Jackson taken in the Whitehouse after the confirmation was announced. In his words, “Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a historic moment for our nation. We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an incredible Justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her”
https://www.bbc.com/news/av-embeds/world-us-canada-61026996/vpid/p0c031n7
The 51-year old Washington D.C born Jurist had earlier received many other nominations and confirmations prior to the moment. She was nominated in 2009 by the then president, Barack Obama, as vice-chair of the United States Sentencing Commission. In September 2012, she was also nominated by Barack Obama to succeed rt. Judge Henry Kennedy Jr, as a Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In 2021, she was nominated by President Joe Biden as the Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. All of which is an attestation of “a range of experience from the courtroom she will bring to the supreme court which only few can match”, according to Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of the three Republicans that vote in her favour.
Although Judge Jackson has been accused of being ‘soft’ on criminals by some Republicans, she was commended on the diversity of her legal career by others.
For someone that had been warned by her high school guidance counselor not to set her ‘sight so her’ when she disclosed her ambition to attend Harvard Law School and considering the discriminative policy that permeated her growing up, Judge Jackson was not discouraged. She kept her head up till she made this remarkable milestone in her life. In her words:
“My parents grew up in a time in this country in which Black children and White children were not allowed to go to the same school together.
They taught me hard work. They taught me perseverance. They taught me that anything is possible in this great country.”
Let’s celebrate this great record in the history of America at large, even as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson awaits her assumption of office as the first black female Associate of Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in October.
