Biden nominates 1st Black woman to Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

On Friday, President Joe Biden announced his nominee for the Supreme Court, federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. With a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed segregation, Jackson has become the first Black woman ever selected to serve on the highest court in the U.S.  

Biden called Jackson a “proven consensus builder” who has “a pragmatic understanding that the law must work for the American people” as he introduced her. “She strives to be fair, to get it right, to do justice.”

Vice President Kamala Harris joined Biden for the historic announcement. Upon her confirmation, Jackson will become the current court’s second Black justice — Clarence Thomas, a conservative, is the other. In the history of the court, there has been only one other Black man that served, Justice Thurgood Marshall. 

Jackson would replace liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, who is retiring at the end of the term this summer. Her nomination will not alter the court’s 6-3 conservative majority. 

Jackson, 51, once worked as one of Breyer’s law clerks early in her legal career. She attended Harvard as an undergraduate and for law school and served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the agency that develops federal sentencing policy, before becoming a federal judge in 2013.

Her nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority by a razor-thin 50-50 margin with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. 

In selecting Jackson, Biden delivers on a campaign promise to make the historic appointment and to further diversify a court that was made up entirely of white men for almost two centuries. 

Biden has chosen an attorney who would be the high court’s first former public defender, though she also possesses the elite legal background of other justices. 

Jackson would join the court as it weighs cutbacks to abortion rights and will be considering ending affirmative action in college admissions and restricting voting rights efforts to increase minority representation. 

She would be only the sixth woman to serve on the court, but she would join three others already there, including the first Latina, Justice Sonia Sotomayor. 

Jackson, 51, was confirmed last year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, often considered a stepping stone to the high court. Prior to that, she served as a U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia. 

Party leaders have promised swift but deliberate consideration of the president’s nominee. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement that the panel will “begin immediately” to move forward on consideration of an “extraordinary nominee.” Senators have set a tentative goal of confirmation by April 8, when they leave for a two-week spring recess. Hearings could start as soon as mid-March. That timeline could be complicated by a number of things, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the extended absence of Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, who suffered a stroke last month and is out for several weeks. 

Once the nomination is sent to the Senate, it is up to the Senate Judiciary Committee to vet the nominee and hold confirmation hearings. After the committee approves a nomination, it goes to the Senate floor for a final vote. Biden and Senate Democrats are hoping for a bipartisan vote on the nomination, but it’s unclear if they will be able to win over any GOP senators after bitterly partisan confirmation battles under President Donald Trump. 

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he looked forward to meeting with Jackson and “studying her record, legal views, and judicial philosophy.” But he noted he had voted against her a year ago. 

Both of Georgia’s U.S. senators said they look forward to the chance to meet with Ketanji Brown Jackson. Sen. Jon Ossoff is a member of the Judiciary Committee, which will hold hearings on Brown’s nomination before deciding whether to recommend her for full Senate approval. “I look forward to meeting with Judge Jackson soon and seeing her before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where I will perform my Constitutional duties of advice and consent with diligence and care.” Sen. Raphael Warnock described Jackson’s nomination as a historic one that should be applauded and taken seriously. “Georgians want a nominee who is fair, qualified, and has a proven record of protecting Americans’ constitutional rights and freedoms,” he said. “I look forward to reviewing this nomination.”

Biden has said he was interested in selecting a nominee in the mold of Breyer who could be a persuasive force with fellow justices. While he pursued the Democratic presidential nomination, Biden pledged in a South Carolina debate to nominate a Black woman if presented with a vacancy. “Everyone should be represented,” Biden said then.

ABOUT KETANJI BROWN JACKSON BIDEN’S SUPREME COURT PICK

• Jackson is a graduate of Harvard Law School, like Stephen Breyer and three others on the court. She once clerked for Breyer. 
• She has been a federal judge since 2013. President Joe Biden elevated her in 2021 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia — where three current justices, including Chief Justice John Roberts, once sat. 
• Jackson is a former public defender who would be the first justice since Thurgood Marshall with experience representing indigent defendants. 
• She is a Washington, D.C., native who grew up in Florida and graduated from a Miami high school. 
• At 51 years old, she would be the second youngest justice on the bench. 
• She is married to Patrick Jackson, a surgeon, whom she met at Harvard. They have two daughters, Talia and Leila.