President Biden plans to nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson in the Supreme Court to replace the retiring judge Stephen Breyer, according to a source familiar with the process. If confirmed by the Senate, he is likely to hold office for decades.
That’s what you need to know about the 51-year-old federal court of appeals judge, who could become the first black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Historical appointment
Jackson is the first black woman selected to serve on the Supreme Court, an institution that once advocated segregation. His confirmation would continue to diversify a court that for nearly two centuries was made up entirely of white men.
The Washington Post
It would be the second black justice in the current court, alongside Clarence Thomas, and only the third in history. She would also become the fourth woman in the current court — the highest number in history — and only the sixth woman justice in history.
Graduate of Harvard Law School
A native of Washington, DC, Jackson grew up in Florida. A last-minute White House biological page that came out Friday morning notes that her parents attended segregated elementary schools in the south and eventually became teachers and administrators of public schools in the Miami area.
Becoming a judge seems to have been his dream for a long time. The 1998 Miami Palmetto Senior High School Yearbook describes her as a member of multiple honor societies and quotes her as saying, “I want to get into the law and finally get a court appointment.”
Jackson attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School. According to the White House, when she told her high school guidance counselor that she wanted to go to Harvard, the counselor warned her not to look “so high.” Jackson graduated with honors from Harvard College and cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Former Secretary of the Supreme Court and Public Defender
She worked as Breyer’s secretary of the Supreme Court during her tenure, which began in October 1999. of the USA.
She also worked for two years as an Assistant Federal Public Defender before returning to the United States Sentencing Commission in 2010 as Vice President. Jackson’s time as a public defender makes her the first justice since Thurgood Marshall to have experience representing criminal defendants.
A leading candidate before the vacancy
Jackson was considered one of the top candidates for the Supreme Court even before there was a vacancy, with her professional experience representing indigent criminal defendants and nearly nine years in the federal bank made her one of the favorites.
She was selected by Mr. They bid last year to replace Attorney General Merrick Garland in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is considered the second most powerful court in the country and served by three current judges. of the Supreme Court. Jackson was confirmed to the DC Circuit in June 2021, gaining the support of all Senate Democrats and three Republicans: Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Prior to his appointment to the DC Circuit, Jackson served for more than eight years as a judge on the District of Columbia Federal District Court. She was selected for this position by former President Barack Obama in 2012 and presented at her confirmation hearing by then-Congressman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican who would go on to serve as Speaker of the House before retiring. in 2018.
Ryan and Jackson are related by marriage, and he has called her “an amazing person.” Ryan he tweeted Friday: “Our policy may be different, but my praise for Ketanji’s intellect, character, and integrity is unequivocal.”
Mr. Obama sued Jackson for the Supreme Court in 2016 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Judge Antonin Scalia.
High profile cases
During his tenure in the district court, Jackson ruled in high profile dispute between the House Judiciary Committee and former White House attorney Don McGahn, he found in 2019 that McGahn had to comply with the subpoena to testify.
“Presidents are not kings. That means they have no subjects, bound by loyalty or blood, whose fate they have the right to control,” he wrote. “Rather, in this land of freedom, it is indisputable that White House employees work for the people of the United States and take an oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution.”
He was also a member of the three-judge panel of the DC Circuit, which rejected an attempt by former President Donald Trump to prevent the National Archives and Records Administration from handing over its White House records to the select committee. the House investigating the January 6 assault on the United States Capitol. Jackson agreed with Judge Patricia Millett’s written opinion that Trump “provided no basis for this court to overturn President Biden’s trial and the agreement and accommodations made between the political branches on these documents.” “.
Finally, the Supreme Court gave the green light to the National Archives to hand over the records to the January 6 commission. reject an application of Mr. Trump to block his release.
Melissa Quinn, Nancy Cordes, Jacob Rosen and The Associated Press contributed to the report.
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