jackson: Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson as 1st Black woman to serve on US Supreme Court – Times of India

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Friday nominated federal appellate judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the first Black woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, saying it is time for the nation’s top judicial body to reflect “the full talent and greatness of our nation”.
Biden picked Jackson, 51, for a lifetime job on the high court to succeed retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, setting up a confirmation battle in the closely divided Senate. Jackson’s nomination fulfills a campaign promise Biden made two years ago to the day to deliver the historic appointment.
Biden appeared at the White House with Jackson and Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black person to hold that office. Biden said that for too long the US government and its courts have not “looked like America”.
“It’s time we had a court that reflects the full talent and greatness of our nation,” Biden said.
Biden called Jackson a “proven consensus builder” and a “distinguished jurist,” adding: “During this process I looked for someone like Justice Breyer who has a pragmatic understanding that the law must work for the American people.”
He called on the Senate to move quickly to confirm her.
Thanking God, Jackson said she did know that one can only come this far by faith.
Jackson paid tribute to Biden for “discharging your constitutional duty in service of our democracy with all that is going on in the world today”, apparently alluding the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Former President Barack Obama, who first appointed Jackson to the federal judiciary in 2013, called Biden’s nominee “an excellent choice”, writing on Twitter that she “understands that the law isn’t just about abstract theory. It’s about people’s lives.”
Biden, who took office last year, is sagging in opinion polls, with 43% of US adults approving of his job performance in a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Any political benefit for Biden with the historic nomination could be diluted by the Ukraine crisis.
Jackson has served since last year on the influential US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after eight years as a federal district judge in Washington.
If confirmed, Jackson would become the sixth woman ever to serve on the court, which currently has three female justices. She would join the liberal bloc on an increasingly assertive court that has a 6-3 conservative majority including three justices appointed by Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump.
Democrats narrowly control the evenly split 100-seat Senate, and if they stay united could confirm Jackson with no Republican votes, with only a simple majority needed. Democrats have said they plan to move the nomination on a timetable similar to the single month that Republicans used for Trump’s third appointee Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2020.
“We will begin immediately to move forward on her nomination with the careful, fair and professional approach she and America are entitled to,” said Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, who chairs the Judiciary Committee that will hold confirmation hearings.
Other contenders for the nomination included J. Michelle Childs, a district court judge in South Carolina and Leondra Kruger, a justice on the California Supreme Court.
Republican criticism
Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell called Jackson “the favored choice of far-left dark-money groups that have spent years attacking the legitimacy and structure of the court itself.” McConnell previously signaled that if Republicans regain the Senate majority in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, he could use that power to block any further Biden Supreme Court nominees.
The Senate voted 53-44 last year to confirm Jackson after Biden nominated her to the D.C. Circuit. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of three Republicans who voted for Jackson last year, signaled a change of tune on Friday, saying her nomination showed “the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again”.
At Jackson’s confirmation hearing last year, Republicans questioned her on whether race plays a role in her approach to deciding cases. She said it did not.
Jackson, who was raised in Miami and attended Harvard Law School, earlier in her career represented criminal defendants who could not afford a lawyer. She was part of a three-judge panel that ruled in December against Trump’s bid to prevent White House records from being handed over to a congressional panel investigating last year’s Capitol attack.
While Jackson would not change the court’s ideological balance – she would be replacing a fellow liberal – her nomination enables Biden to refresh its liberal wing with a much younger jurist who could serve for decades.
Jackson’s nomination gives Biden a chance to shore up support among women, minorities and liberals ahead of the midterm elections. Biden’s strength among suburban women, seen as a key reason for his victory over Trump, has eroded since taking office last year, worrying his political aides.
Democrats control the Senate because Harris can break a tie. They currently lack a working majority after Democratic Senator Ben Ray Lujan had a stroke. He is expected to recover in time to vote on Jackson.
Breyer, 83, plans to step aside when the court’s current term ends, usually in late June.
The Supreme Court is due to rule in the coming months in cases that could curb abortion rights and expand gun rights. In its next term it is due to hear a case that could end affirmative action policies used by colleges and universities to increase the number of Black and Hispanic students.