Ketanji Brown Jackson Sworn In As First Black Woman On US Supreme Court
The swearing in of Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court on Thursday, and the United States created history in the meantime.
The 51-year-selection old’s by Democratic President Joe Biden marks the first time in 233 years that white men do not dominate the nation’s highest court.
Although her confirmation is a significant development, it won’t affect the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, which has drawn criticism for previous decisions that extended the right to bear guns and severely restricted abortion rights.
During the brief ceremony on Thursday, Jackson merely spoke to take her oaths.
Biden received a bipartisan 53-47 approval for his first Supreme Court candidate after she gained the support of three Senate Republicans amid a difficult and occasionally nasty confirmation process.
The swearing-in of Ketanji Brown Jackson is a significant occasion for Biden, who presided over the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1980s and 1990s, giving him the unheard-of distinction of both appointing and supervising a Supreme Court justice.
Given that Biden’s polling results are still hovering below 40% amid skyrocketing inflation ahead of the November midterm elections, the move offers his administration a chance to turn around from a string of unfavorable news stories in recent months.
Most importantly, it has given Biden the chance to demonstrate his ability to deliver for the Black voters who saved his floundering 2020 primary campaign.
Although it took longer to seat Amy Coney Barrett, Donald Trump’s final court nominee during his presidency, the confirmation process was still one of the fastest in history at 42 days.
The Supreme Court works to provide equal justice under the law in its capacity as the last word in all civil and criminal legal issues as well as the protector and interpreter of the Constitution.
Even though they all graduated from Harvard or Yale, the nine-member court now has four female justices, making it the most diverse bench in history.
AFP
