President Joe Biden has nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, fulfilling a campaign pledge to name the first Black woman to the nation’s highest court.
What Happened: CNN reported that the 51-year-old Jackson received and accepted the invitation on Thursday night. If confirmed, she would fill the vacancy left by the retiring Judge Stephen Breyer.
"Judge Jackson is one of the nation’s brightest legal minds," said the White House in a statement.
Jackson is a Harvard Law School graduate who is currently serving as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Biden named her to the appeals court last year after serving eight years as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Early in her career, Jackson clerked for Breyer and served as a federal public defender in Washington, D.C. This marks the first time since Thurgood Marshall’s appointment in 1967 that a Supreme Court justice had previous experience representing criminal defendants.
What Happens Next: Jackson would need a majority vote in the Senate for her confirmation to be secured. With the Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans and Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker vote, it would seem Jackson’s confirmation is assured unless at least one Democratic senator balks at her nomination.
For last year’s confirmation to the appeals court, Jackson passed with a 53-44 vote that covered all 50 Democrats and three Republicans (Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska).
If confirmed, Jackson would be the sixth woman and third Black American to serve on the Supreme Court.
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