It is something that took 46 days —and more than 46 years— to complete. Eagerly celebrating a historic moment for the United States, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said Friday that her confirmation as the first black woman on the Supreme Court demonstrates the country’s progress, saying, “We’re here, all of us.”
Jackson spoke on the White House lawn a day after the Senate approved his nomination, saying the entire country can be proud.
“We have a long way to go to perfect our union,” he declared. “In my family, it took barely a generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
President Joe Biden, who also made history by nominating her, joined Jackson at Friday’s rally, calling the confirmation “a real game-changing moment in American history.” Across from Jackson was Vice President Kamala Harris, the first black woman to hold that position.
Hours earlier, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, had highlighted: “This is a tremendously historic day in the White House and the country, and the fulfillment of a promise from the president to the country.”
By running Jackson, Biden fulfilled his campaign promise placing the first black woman in an all-white judicial body for nearly two centuries that declared blacks unworthy of citizenship and endorsed segregation.
Biden also chose a lawyer who is the first public defender to reach the Court and who also has the elite training of other judges, a graduate of Harvard Law School and an intern for judges like Breyer himself.
Although Jackson’s entry does not change the ideological makeup of the court, with six conservative and three liberal judges, Biden considered it a historic event. He appointed her on the second anniversary of his promise, in the South Carolina presidential primary, to elect a black woman to the Court. In doing so, she revived a flagging campaign and paved her way to the White House.
On Thursday, Jackson visited the White House to follow on TV with Biden the development of the vote in the Senate and the two held hands when their confirmation was finalized.
“History doesn’t happen by accident, it gets made,” said chief of staff Ron Klain. In an interview on the channel MSNBChighlighted that the vote in the Senate was chaired by Vice President Kamala Harris, the first black woman to hold the position, also chosen by Biden.
Over half a century in Washington, Biden has played a leading role in assembling the Court, from inside and outside the Senate, but this was his first opportunity to select a justice.
Perhaps that opportunity will not be repeated. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in an interview Thursday, declined to commit to holding confirmation hearings on a future Biden run for the Court if the GOP regains a majority in 2023.
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