Ketanji Brown Jackson, the primary Black lady ever confirmed to the US Supreme Courtroom, has mentioned her appointment marks a “second by which all Individuals can take nice satisfaction” – however one which holds particular significance given the nation’s historical past of slavery and segregation.
Throughout a ceremony on the White Home alongside President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday, Jackson quoted US poet Maya Angelou’s well-known, Nonetheless I Rise, poem, saying: “I’m the dream and the hope of the slave.”
“I strongly consider that it is a second by which all Individuals can take nice satisfaction. We’ve come a good distance towards perfecting our union. In my household, it took only one technology to go from segregation to the Supreme Courtroom of the US,” she mentioned.
“And it’s an honour – the honour of a lifetime – for me to have this opportunity to affix the courtroom, to advertise the rule of legislation on the highest degree, and to do my half to hold our shared venture of democracy and equal justice below legislation ahead into the longer term.”
The ceremony got here a day after the US Senate voted 53-47 in favour of Jackson’s nomination, making her not solely the primary Black lady to function Supreme Courtroom justice, but in addition solely the third Black American to affix the excessive courtroom.
Historic second for our courts and for our nation. Congratulations, Choose Jackson. pic.twitter.com/eLSfs1QoHB
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 7, 2022
Jackson’s affirmation course of highlighted deep partisan divisions within the US, with Republicans looking for to color the longtime jurist and US appeals courtroom decide as a left-wing “radical”, whereas Democrats stood staunchly behind her.
Whereas most Republicans on Thursday voted in opposition to her becoming a member of the highest courtroom, three GOP senators – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Utah’s Mitt Romney – backed Jackson, successfully sealing her nomination within the evenly divided chamber.
Jackson, who final yr was appointed to the US Courtroom of Appeals, had obtained help for her Supreme Courtroom nomination from a wide selection of stakeholders within the US, together with civil rights teams, legislation enforcement companies and state attorneys normal.
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer mentioned her affirmation marked “a joyous day” for the nation, whereas Vice President Kamala Harris additionally mentioned it was an “historic” second.
The previous president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, additionally congratulated Jackson, saying, “The world witnessed historical past yesterday with the affirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as the primary Black lady to serve on the US Supreme Courtroom”.
“Her affirmation is already inspiring a technology of younger girls to observe in her footsteps,” Sirleaf said on Twitter.
Throughout Friday’s ceremony, which was attended by Democratic lawmakers and others, US President Joe Biden mentioned Jackson’s affirmation could be remembered as “a second of actual change in American historical past”.
“Yesterday, all of us witnessed a very historic second,” Biden mentioned of Jackson’s affirmation vote within the US Senate.
“After greater than 20 hours of questioning at her listening to[s] and practically 100 conferences … all of us noticed the type of justice she’ll be,” he added. “Truthful and neutral, considerate, cautious, exact, good – a superb authorized thoughts with deep data of the legislation and a judicial temperament … that’s calm and in command.”
Jackson’s appointment comes at a troublesome second for the Biden administration, which is dealing with public discontent about rising costs and different points earlier than the mid-term elections in November, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett reported from Washington.
“Not solely is there a bitter temper among the many American public because it continues to emerge out of COVID-19, however there’s frustration over the continued worth hikes which have occurred, the 40-year excessive on the subject of inflation … a sluggish financial system, and the struggle in Ukraine,” mentioned Halkett, explaining that this has translated into slumping approval scores for Biden.
“He actually wants a victory, and he sees this as a victory – and that’s why there’s a little bit of politics at play right here, as properly. After all, it is a historic event, however the president [is] additionally hoping to grab some momentum politically on this.”