Ketanji Brown Jackson smiled at the White House screen, his emotion showing as Vice President Kamala Harris announced her appeal to the Supreme Court. Harris led the Senate confirmation, alongside Jackson was President Joe Biden in front of the television. As they both laughed, held hands and hugged, many Democrats in the House cheered. In the 233-year history of the United States Supreme Court, Jackson is the first black woman to administer justice. On the ballot, 53 senators voted in favor of her nomination and 47 against. The unified group of Democrats was joined by Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah. The new Chief Justice will take office in early October after Stephen Breyer retires for the summer.
Jackson, 51, has had a classic legal career. She was appointed by Biden to the Washington, DC Federal Court of Appeals last year. Before that, the mother of two daughters had already been a judge at the Federal Regional Court in the capital. Since the year 2000 she has worked as a lawyer, sometimes also as a public defender. After graduating from Harvard University, she worked as an assistant to Constitutional Justice Breyer for a year, and will now take his place. Jackson, who was born in the capital and grew up in Miami, also served as vice chairman of the federal sentencing commission from 2010 to 2014. As early as 2016, she was in discussion as the successor to the late Chief Justice Antonin Scalia. President Barack Obama unsuccessfully nominated Merrick Garland, who is now attorney general, in her seat.
No change in the balance of power
The judge’s qualifications are indisputable among experts – but she was exposed to harsh attacks from many Republicans in the pre-vote hearings. The fact that Joe Biden had already promised during the election campaign to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court angered many conservatives. They said judges should be chosen based on skill, not color or gender. They accused Jackson of giving “soft” trials or as a lawyer defending detainees at the military prison at Guantánamo. Tom Cotton, senator from Arkansas, jumped in with the question: “Do you think we should catch and arrest more or less murderers?” pleases the perpetrator. So the obsession with alleged child rapists among Democrats spilled over into the appeals process.
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Jackson, however, made it through the interrogations without engaging in the taunts. It was disrespectful to some observers that Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma did not wear ties on Thursday, contrary to the House’s mandatory dress code. They had to vote in the locker room.
Outside the Chamber, representatives of right-wing organizations managed to be even clearer than politicians in the polls and showed how much racism is behind the violent reactions to the staff. As Charlie Kirk, founder of influential youth organization Turning Point USA, said: “Ketanji Brown Jackson is what his country looks like under Critical Race Theory. KBJ is his country on CRT.” The “dumb” judge is “an embodiment of the tyranny” we live under today, Kirk said. He represents the right wing around Donald Trump, who still dominates the Republicans. They have been fighting for months against anti-racist teaching content in schools and universities under the slogan “Critical Theory of Race”, which actually describes a legal theory that Jackson says he has not addressed in detail.
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Despite all the attacks, no one could take away his great joy over the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court bench, black New Jersey Senator Cory Booker said when Jackson was questioned. That was also the mood of many Democrats after the successful vote. The fact that Kamala Harris, the first black vice president, was able to announce the appointment of the first black woman to the Supreme Court is a historic milestone, said Congresswoman Terri Sewell, surrounded by other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Sewell is Alabama’s first African-American representative. Jackson is redefining what’s possible for black women of future generations and what African-American girls can dream of for themselves. “You have to see it to be it”, she quoted a commonly used phrase – you have to see it to be it.
Jackson’s appointment is a historic step given the political importance of the Supreme Court and further normalizes the exercise of political power by black women. However, the appointment does not change the political balance of power – the Conservatives will still have a comfortable majority of six to three judges.