It was updated April 7, 2022.
The first Black woman to reach the Supreme Court was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday in a 53-47 vote, making her the first justice of the high court.
Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is on Capitol Hill.
Jackson was confirmed in a bipartisan Senate vote, getting support from Republican and Democratic senators.
The vote was presided over by the first Black woman to serve in that role.
When the next term of the court starts this fall, she will officially start her tenure, as retiring Justice Stephen Breyer will stay on the court until the current term ends in late June or early July.
Jackson previously served as a federal district judge, a public defender, and on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Jackson will be the first black woman to serve on the high court.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that they were taking a giant, bold and important step on the path to fulfilling the country's founding promise.
Jackson is one of the most popular judges in recent history to be confirmed to the court. A Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted after Jackson's Senate confirmation hearings found that 49 percent of respondents thought the Senate should confirm Jackson, which is higher than any of the three justices nominated by former President Donald Trump. A Gallup poll conducted before the Senate hearings found that Jackson's confirmation was supported by more people than any Supreme Court justice in recent history.
Jackson will hear several major cases in her first term on the court, including a religious freedom case from a website designer who opposed doing work for same-sex couples and a dispute about whether Alabama's new congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act. Jackson said during her Senate hearing that she will not be involved in a case concerning Harvard University's affirmative action policies. The court will hear a challenge to affirmative action at the University of North Carolina, but it's not clear if Jackson will still hear the case.
Biden nominated Jackson to the Supreme Court in February, fulfilling the president's campaign pledge to name the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. The first Supreme Court vacancy of Biden's presidency came after the left-leaning justice had been under heavy pressure from Democrats to retire. Jackson will not change the court's 6-3 conservative tilt, but the confirmation of the 51-year-old justice ensures that the seat will likely be held by a left-leaning justice for decades to come. The American Bar Association testified to the Senate that it reviewed Jackson's record and that it led her to ask about his confirmation.
More support for Jackson's confirmation than for any of Trump's Supreme Court nominees.
The Bar Association says that there is no evidence to support GOP criticism of the Supreme Court nominee.
There are deadlocks in the Senate committee and she will still be confirmed.
The Supreme Court was named by Biden. We know what we know about her. (Forbes)
All Rights Reserved © 2024
