Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be confirmed to the Supreme Court

Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court was confirmed on April 7, 2022, by the United States Senate in a bipartisan 53-47 vote.

Judge Jackson is breaking ground and will be the first Black woman to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court once Justice Stephen Breyer (pictured on the left) retires.

Justice Jackson received the votes of confirmation from all 50 Democratic Senators in addition to votes from Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah.

Regarding his support for Jackson, on April 4, Romney said that while he may not agree with all of Jackson's choices, he cannot deny that her testimony, experience, and record demonstrate that she is a "well-qualified jurist and a person of honor."

Mitt Romney is a minority among Republicans in his approval of Jackson, while Democrats are ecstatic with Jackson's confirmation.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is an inspiration for many young laws students, and it is the first time in history that white men will not hold the majority in the Supreme Court.

Nonetheless, the courts still holds a 6-3 conservative majority. Justice Jackson joins liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

In order to be confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson had to withstand four days of grueling testimony before Congress that had little to do with the position she hoped to fill.

When Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated to the United States' highest court, US President Joe Biden praised her "exceptional credentials, unimpeachable character, and an unwavering dedication to the rule of law."

Joe Biden's pick for the US Supreme Court was a historic one, as Jackson will be the first Black woman to ever serve in the US Supreme Court.

And while she has faced plenty of scrutiny she also received plenty of support, from the Democratic lawmakers, civil rights groups, and law enforcement agencies to the state attorneys general.

According to NPR, in February Biden spoke about his choice at a ceremony, saying, "It's time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications."

Join us to look at Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's background and her journey to becoming a US Supreme Court Judge.

Ketanji Brown Jackson was born in 1970 in Washington, DC; however, she grew up in Miami, Florida. Jackson is the daughter of a teacher and school board attorney and a school principal. When her father went back to law school when she was a child, Kentanji first began to think about a career in law herself.

Pictured:  Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown.

In a video shared by Joe Biden on Twitter, Jackson said: "We lived on the campus of the University of Miami, and my dad would sit there with all of his big, thick legal books, and I would bring my colouring books and I would sit next to him and watch him study, and pretend as though I was doing work, as well."

Ketanji says that she hopes to inspire others who are thinking about going into the legal profession. In the video online, she said: "I have spent my life admiring lawyers and judges from all backgrounds, but especially those who are African Americans like me, who have worked very hard to get to where they are," she said in the video shared online.

In the video, Judge Jackson also spoke about those who inspired her: "I have been inspired by Judge Constance Baker Motley, who was the first Black woman ever to be appointed to the federal bench. She was a civil rights lawyer before she became a judge. It meant a lot to me in my career to have her as an inspiration, and I would hope to be an inspiration to other young people, lawyers … who may want to go into the judicial branch."

Later, she was drawn to public speaking and debate competitions in high school, even partaking in some at Harvard University. According to a piece by CNN, a former classmate said, "Year after year, she was elected by our peers to be class president in our large, diverse public high school."

In fact, Jack even said she wanted to be a judge in her high school yearbook from 1988, saying, "I want to go into law and eventually have a judicial appointment," per CNN.

Despite being told "not to set her sights too high" by her high school guidance counselor, Jackson went on to graduate at the top of her class from Harvard College. She would then go on to graduate with honors in 1996 from Harvard Law School.

Following her graduation from law school, Jackson worked as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (pictured). If confirmed, Jackson will be taking her mentor's seat. In a video shared by Biden on social media, Jackson said, "Justice Breyer was an incredible boss and mentor."

Jackson had a variety of posts, from working in private practice to in the appeals division of the Office of the Federal Public Defender in the District of Columbia.

At a Senate committee hearing last year, Jackson said that working as a public defender was "an opportunity to help people in need, and to promote core constitutional values."

In 2012, Former President Barack Obama nominated Jackson to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, and in 2013, she was confirmed. Later, in 2021 Jackson was confirmed to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit following a nomination by Biden.

In her years as a judge for the US District Court and the DC Circuit Appeals Court, Jackson wrote almost 600 opinions according to the Alliance for Justice, who published a fact sheet on Jackson's track record in 2021. Of all of Jackson's opinions as a judge, they were only reversed or vacated 14 times.

In a report on Jackson's legal record, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund spoke about her time on the commission: "Judge Jackson proposed and reviewed amendments to federal sentencing policies" and "demonstrated a consistent concern about the fundamental fairness of the proposed amendments and the evenhanded treatment of individuals convicted of a crime."

Ketanji Brown Jackson is making history in more ways than one. In addition, to being the first black woman to hold the position, she is also be the first public defender to ever serve as a justice on that bench, according to the White House.