This would cap a distinguished career, which included a clerkship with Justice Stephen Breyer.
Ketanji brown Jackson was sworn into office as a federal judge in Washington, D.C. In 2013, a familiar face administered her oath of Office: Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she had previously worked 13 years ago.
Breyer’s arm was in a sling following a fall off his bicycle. He told the audience that he had been admitted to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital where Jackson is a surgeon.
Breyer jokingly said, “This is a judicial familia affair.”
Their relationship is complete.
Joe Biden announced Friday he would nominate Jackson as the Supreme Court’s successor to Breyer. This elevates a candidate with Ivy League credentials, a distinguished legal career, and sets her on a historic track. , one of three remaining liberal justices on the court, will retire after almost three decades of service.
Jackson will be the court’s first Black female justice. If Jackson is confirmed, it would also mean that two Black justices will share the bench for the first time. (Clarence Thomas, the second Black man on the Supreme Court after Thurgood Marshall, is Clarke Thomas.
Jackson would also be the first justice ever to work as a public defense attorney. At 51 years old, Jackson would be the second-youngest justice after Amy Coney Barrett (who turned 50 in January).
The significance of Jackson’s nomination, which came exactly two years to the day after Biden promised during his presidential campaign to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, was celebrated Friday by many “
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), stated in a statement that he is looking forward to meeting Jackson and performing a “rigorous assessment” of her background. He also acknowledged that he voted against Jackson’s confirmation to the U.S. Senate last year. Circuit Court of Appeals, District of Columbia
Biden had already indicated his confidence in Jackson by naming her to the appeals board, which is one of the most important federal panels. It has been a frequent feeder to the Supreme Court.
The appellate court also has three current justices: John Roberts, chief justice; Brett Kavanaugh and Thomas.
The Senate confirmed Jackson to the D.C., where he was a Harvard Law School graduate. Circuit by 53 votes to 44, with the support from all 50 Democratic-voting senators, and three Republicans: Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, and Lisa Murkowski, Alaska.
Jackson is a good fit for both the Democratic party and the progressive movement. Her labor-friendly rulings in her capacity as a judge have been praised by liberal organizations. The Obama administration’s Sentencing Commission voted to reduce the sentences of thousands of federal prisoners convicted of crack-related offenses.
This issue was close to her heart: A relative of hers was sentenced for life in prison for cocaine possession. Then-President Barack Obama commuted the sentence in 2016.
Jackson is a judge and has no records of writings, speeches, or rulings on hot-button topics like abortion, gun rights, or freedom of religion. She was part of the three-judge appeals panel that rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to stop the National Archives giving hundreds of documents to the House Jan. 6, committee.
Jackson stated that Don McGahn, former Trump White House Counsel, was required to testify before her House Judiciary Committee.
She stated, in a widely quoted line taken from her decision: “The primary lesson from the past 250-years of American history is that presidents don’t kings.”
However, was overturned by the appeals court for procedural reasons.
Jackson sentenced another prominent case to four years imprisonment for the “pizzagate,” conspiracy theorist after he opened fire in a D.C.-area restaurant in 2016.
Jackson was born in Washington, and grew up here. Jackson claims that her father, a Miami County school board attorney and her mother, were high school principals. They received a list of names from an aunt who was part of the Peace Corps in Africa. They were informed that Ketanji Inyika meant “lovely.”
Jackson was an undergraduate at Harvard and studied government. She became interested in theater when she joined an improv troupe called On Thin Ice. Although she claims that Matt Damon was once assigned to her in drama class as a partner, she acknowledged that he wouldn’t be able to remember her. (A representative of the actor stated that he didn’t, but he replied, “That’s so cool!”
More than 170 Black Harvard graduates sent a letter encouraging Biden and Jackson to nominate Jackson.
Nina Simmons was the organizer of the letter and was also a Jackson roommate. She told The Harvard Crimson she is a “powerful voice for Black students” and “never afraid of her opinions or to argue about things she believed were right and just, so that she has a high standard of integrity.”
Jackson met her husband at Harvard where he was a premed student. They were married in 1996. Jackson would be able to complete a year of clerkship with Breyer three years later. Breyer had been appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
Jackson and her husband have two daughters: one in high school, the other in college.
After working in large law firms for years and being a Washington public defender, she says she started knitting to “channel her nervous energy” when she was first elected to the federal judgeship in 2012.
Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin House Speaker at the time — who is related by marriage to Jackson — boasted about her track record to his Senate counterparts during her confirmation hearing.
He said, “Now, we may disagree on politics, but my praises for Ketanji’s intelligence, her character, and her integrity, it’s unequivocal.” “She is an incredible person and I highly recommend her consideration.”
After Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, a vacancy at the Supreme Court meant that Jackson was named.
Obama would nominate Merrick Garland. But Jackson later retold a story about her youngest daughter, Leila. She had written a letter to President Obama in which she stated that she should consider her mother “because she can demonstrate commitment, is loyal, and never brags.”
She explained to the audience that she and Patrick had discussed to her that the job of Supreme Court justice is not the type of job you can apply for. “You have to be fortunate enough to find the president among thousands of applicants for that job.
