On Thursday Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed to the Supreme Court, shattering a historic barrier by securing her place as the first Black female justice.
Once she replaces Justice Stephen G. Breyer, one of the 108 white men who preceded her, the court will look a lot more like the nation it serves. There will, for the first time, be four women on the court. Also, for the first time, there will be two Black justices, and a Latina.
U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, the first woman and first Black Delawarean to represent the state in Congress, said Jackson’s confirmation filled her with “pride.”
WDEL.com interviewed her and she said, “Her [Judge Jackson] ability, knowledge, and experience made her uniquely qualified as she takes her seat as the first Black woman on the United States Supreme Court. Her credentials were underscored by the bipartisan vote to confirm her as our next Associate Justice,” Blunt Rochester said. “My father once wrote me a note that read, ‘You become what you see, unless you see what you want to become.”
“Today – and for years to come – millions of Black girls across America will look to the highest court in our land and will know what they can become. Our country has already benefited from Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s example. Now we will benefit from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s service”, Blunt Rochester went on to say.
Jackson’s conformation came with a lot of congratulations and applause, but some weren’t so happy.
In a businessinsider.com article “Republicans walked out of the Senate chamber during a standing ovation as Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as the first Black female Supreme Court justice in US history.
Video footage showed several Republican senators leaving their seats and heading to the exits as applause erupted in the chamber after the Senate voted 53-47 to confirm her to the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The one Republican senator filmed joining the applause as colleagues filed past was Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who was one of only three moderate Republicans who voted to confirm Joe Biden’s nominee. The others were Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
There are a lot of mixed opinions of Jackson’s conformation, but I think the best quote came from CNN’s chief political correspondent, Julia Borger.
Borger said, “Whether you agree with the outcome or not, you need to pay this woman the respect that she is due, and you need to do that for any Supreme Court nominee”.
