Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed by the US Senate on Thursday as a Supreme Court justice, becoming the first black woman to serve on the highest court.
His confirmation is a milestone for the United States and a victory for President Joe Biden, who fulfilled a campaign promise. The vote to confirm the federal appeals judge to the nation’s highest judicial body was 53 to 47, with three Republicans — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney — joining Democrats.
Jackson, 51, will take the place of Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, for whom he clerked early in his career and who will retire in the summer. She attended Harvard as an undergraduate and law school student, and served on the US Sentencing Commission, the agency that develops federal sentencing policy, before becoming a federal judge in 2013.
Shortly after the vote, President Joe Biden called Jackson’s confirmation a “historic moment” for the United States.
Through his Twitter account, the president he claimed that the US “has taken another step to make our supreme court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an amazing judge and I was honored to share this moment with her.”
“This milestone should have happened generations ago […] America today is taking a giant step to make our union more perfect,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Different tribunal
Jackson, who was subjected to a grueling confirmation process and sometimes aggressive, she will join the three women currently serving on the highest court, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett, marking the first time the court has had four women at the same time.
In addition, with her incorporation, the court will be the most diverse in history with five men on the bench, four whites and Clarence Thomas, who is African American. The judge, who watched the vote in the White House alongside President Biden, is the only female candidate or nominee for a confirmed Democratic president since Elena Kagan in 2010.
Lisa Murkowski, of the Republican trio of Jackson supporters, via a Press releaseexplained that his endorsement was a “rejection of the corrosive politicization of the review process.”
Another Republican Jackson supporter, Susan Collins, lamented how partisan the process had become, noting that senators tended to give opposing party presidents more deference in Supreme Court elections.
“This is the approach I plan to continue to use for Supreme Court nominations because it goes against a worrying trend of politicizing the judicial nomination process,” he said.
Although the process was marked by division, Jackson has maintained a strong support among voters who were very attentive to his confirmation.
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll found nearly half of voters said the Senate should support her. Only 26% of those interviewed were against it and the remaining 25% did not have an opinion.
*With information from AFP and Reuters
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