President Joe Biden on Friday appointed African-American Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court, a historic first if the magistrate successfully passes the stage of her confirmation by the Senate. Who is she really? Portrait.
“It’s time we had a court that reflects all the talent and greatness of our nation,” the Democratic leader said, formally introducing the magistrate at a ceremony at the White House.
The 51-year-old judge, with “extraordinary qualifications” according to Joe Biden, then spoke, under the eyes of another woman embodying the American dream for people from minorities: Vice-President Kamala Harris, of Jamaican father. and Indian mother.
“I just hope that my life, my career, my love of the country and the Constitution, and my commitment to the rule of law and the sacred principles on which this nation was built, will be an inspiration to the future generations of Americans,” Ketanji Brown Jackson said.
Given the current strong political polarization in America, the magistrate can expect to be put on the grill when she passes her hearing in front of the elected officials of Congress, some of whom have already reacted negatively. “Judge Jackson was the preferred choice of the dark financial interests of the extreme left”, thus criticized the leader of the Republican senators, Mitch McConnell.
“Extraordinarily Skilled”
“He is one of the most brilliant legal minds of our nation”, on the contrary assured Joe Biden, the White House evoking a “historic” moment. “Judge Jackson is already a source of inspiration for black women, like my daughters, allowing them to aim higher,” approved Barack Obama. Ketanji Brown Jackson was one of three black justices who were finalists, following a process that the executive took great care to avoid giving critics a hold during the confirmation phase on Capitol Hill. .
Given the stake, Joe Biden himself involved in this selection, interviewing the magistrates in competition in the home stretch. This is for the American president his first appointment to the high court, which will not change the balance of power within the prestigious college of nine magistrates whose mission is to ensure the constitutionality of laws and to settle important debates. of society in the United States.
Before Joe Biden, Donald Trump indeed had the opportunity to appoint three judges to the Supreme Court, anchoring the case in conservatism, possibly for several decades.
Ketanji Brown Jackson sits on the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, a court renowned for the importance of the cases that pass through it and therefore considered a springboard.
She will replace progressive magistrate Stephen Breyer, who will retire at the end of June. The institution at the top of the American judicial pyramid will therefore remain composed of six conservative members (including one woman) and three progressives, all of whom are women.
“Radical Left”
Ketanji Brown Jackson, a mother of two, grew up in Florida and is married to a prominent surgeon. She is a graduate of the highly regarded Harvard University Law School.
An asset paradoxically exploited once morest it by Republicans, who denounce the overrepresentation in the high court of judges graduated from private universities of the Ivy League, Harvard and Yale in the lead. “The Yale-Harvard line for the Supreme Court continues to operate at full capacity,” South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham denounced Friday, implying that this was creating a body of elites disconnected from real America.
President Biden gave in to “the radical left”, lamented the elected official. This bodes well for heated debates in the Senate, where Democrats have the smallest possible majority. Joe Biden’s camp wants to work hard to confirm Ms. Jackson before the November parliamentary elections, which might result in a setback.
In 232 years of existence, the Supreme Court of the United States has only had two black judges, one of whom, Clarence Thomas, was appointed by George Bush Sr. and still sits.