Biden announces historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court

Jackson makes history as first black woman nominated to the nation's highest court

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson makes history as the first black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. "File:Ketanji Brown Jackson (robe photo).jpg" by H2rty is marked with CC BY-SA 4.0.

President Biden announced his historic nomination of federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on February 25, following through on his key campaign pledge to nominate the first black woman to the nation’s highest court in its 233-year history.

Biden formally announced his nomination of Jackson to fill the vacant Court seat at a televised White House event alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, where he hailed the U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for her character and judicial expertise. Biden said Jackson “will bring to the Supreme Court an independent-minded, uncompromising integrity,” along with extensive law experience.

Jackson, 51, was elevated to her role in the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last year by Biden, and previously served as the Vice-Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and as a judge on the federal district court in the District of Columbia. The Harvard Law Graduate and former Editor of the Harvard Law Review also worked for two years as an assistant federal public defender — which, if confirmed, would make her the first justice since Thurgood Marshall to have experience in representing criminal defendants. Jackson would be the first former public defender to sit on the Supreme Court.

"For too long, our government and our courts haven't looked like America, and I believe it's time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications, and that we inspire all young people to believe that they can one day serve their country at the highest level," the president said during his announcement remarks.

If confirmed, Jackson would replace liberal Justice Steven G. Breyer, who plans to retire when the court term ends this summer, on the Court. During her remarks following the president, Jackson addressed Breyer, for whom she served as a law clerk in 1999, acknowledging that “while the members of the Senate will decide if I fill your seat [...] I could never fill your shoes," she said.

Jackson’s confirmation would not affect the Court’s current 6-3 conservative supermajority and she would join the Court’s diminishing liberal wing alongside Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Her historic confirmation would also mark the first time in history where there will be three people of color, and four women, on the bench.

“I can only hope that my life and career, my love of this country and the Constitution, and my commitment to upholding the rule of law and the sacred principles upon which this great nation was founded will inspire future generations of Americans," Jackson said at the White House.

While it is unclear when confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee will begin, Senate Democrats are planning an expeditious confirmation timeline similar to that of Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed in less than 30 days after her nomination announcement. In the divided 50-50 Senate, Jackson will need the support of all Democrats to be confirmed to the Court, which she is likely to receive. 

In her short remarks, Jackson thanked her friends and family and paid homage to her hero, Constance Baker Motley — the first black woman to be appointed as a federal judge — with whom she shares a birthday. Jackson expressed her gratitude to her family, to God, and to the president, for exercising his constitutional duty of judicial nomination even amid “all that is going on in the world today,” referring to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“My life has been blessed beyond measure and I do know that one can only come this far by faith," Jackson said. "Among my many blessings, and indeed the very first, is the fact that I was born in this great country ... The United States of America is the greatest beacon of hope and democracy the world has ever known."