US Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson as first black female constitutional judge
Biden and Jackson in the White House
© © 2022 AFP
African-American judge Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes the first black woman in US history to sit on the Supreme Court.
African-American judge Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes the first black woman in US history to sit on the Supreme Court. The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Joe Biden’s constitutional judge nominee to the country’s Supreme Court by a majority of 53 to 47. In addition to the 50 senators from Biden’s Democrats, three senators from the opposition Republicans also voted for Jackson.
After the historic vote, cheers broke out in the Senate. Jackson himself followed the vote with Biden in the White House.
The President nominated Jackson in February to succeed 83-year-old Constitutional Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who will retire in the summer. The current judge on the federal appeals court in the capital Washington is now making history: the US Supreme Court has never had a black woman judge in its 233 years of existence. Out of a total of 115 judges, 108 were white males. Only two African Americans – both men – made it to the Supreme Court.
Constitutional judges in the United States are nominated by the President and then confirmed for life by the Senate. The selection and confirmation of the candidates are politically highly contested processes, because the powerful Supreme Court plays a central role in the institutional structure of the USA.
The Court rules on the constitutionality of laws and government actions and generally has the final say in legal disputes. This includes highly contentious issues such as abortion rights, gun laws, immigration laws and the death penalty.
Jackson’s entry into the Supreme Court will not change anything in the majority of the court, because the liberal lawyer will replace the liberal Breyer. A clear majority of six of the nine constitutional judges belong to the conservative camp. Biden was able to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court for the first time during his tenure.