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Ketanji Brown Jackson, the primary Black girl ever confirmed to america Supreme Court docket, has mentioned her appointment marks a “second during which all Individuals can take nice pleasure” – 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 imagine that it is a second during which all Individuals can take nice pleasure. We have now come a good distance towards perfecting our union. In my household, it took only one technology to go from segregation to the Supreme Court docket of america,” she mentioned.
“And it’s an honour – the honour of a lifetime – for me to have this opportunity to hitch the court docket, 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 long run.”
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 girl to function Supreme Court docket justice, but additionally solely the third Black American to hitch the excessive court docket.
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 searching for to color the longtime jurist and US appeals court docket decide as a left-wing “radical”, whereas Democrats stood staunchly behind her.
Whereas most Republicans on Thursday voted towards her becoming a member of the highest court docket, 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 12 months was appointed to the US Court docket of Appeals, had obtained assist for her Supreme Court docket nomination from a wide selection of stakeholders within the US, together with civil rights teams, legislation enforcement businesses and state attorneys common.
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 girl to serve on the US Supreme Court docket”.
“Her affirmation is already inspiring a technology of younger girls to observe in her footsteps,” Sirleaf mentioned on Twitter.
Throughout Friday’s ceremony, which was attended by Democratic lawmakers and others, US President Joe Biden mentioned Jackson’s affirmation can 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 form of justice she’ll be,” he added. “Honest 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 tough second for the Biden administration, which is going through 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 continuing value hikes which have occurred, the 40-year excessive in the case of inflation … a sluggish financial system, and the battle 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 nicely. After all, it is a historic event, however the president [is] additionally hoping to grab some momentum politically on this.”
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