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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has been nominated by President Joe Biden to replace Democratic Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court. She was interviewed by the Senate throughout this week, if her candidacy is approved, this progressive judge will become the first African-American woman to be part of the highest judicial body in the country.
“For too long, our government and our courts have not looked like America,” Biden said in introducing his nominee, “I think it’s time we had a court that reflects the talent and greatness of our nation,” he added. .
Ketanji Brown Jackson is a 51-year-old judge who lives in Washington with her husband and two daughters. Jackson grew up in a middle-class family in Miami. As a child, she became passionate about law thanks to her father, also a lawyer. In 1996, she graduated from the elite Harvard Law School, like 4 of the current justices of the court.
Ketanji Brown Jackson began his career as an assistant to three judges, including Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court, whom he could now replace. She has worked several times in large private law firms and explained in 2017 how difficult it is to be a mother and work for large firms, describing that the schedule is “constantly in conflict with the needs of your children and your family”.
One of her important experiences was being a federal public defender, from 2005 to 2007. Unlike all the other judges, she is the only one who had this type of professional experience, which gives her an insight into the judicial system that other judges do not have. .
“I remember thinking very clearly that I felt like I didn’t have enough insight into what really goes on in criminal cases, I wanted to understand the system,” Jackson said when asked by senators why she chose to be a public defender. She also explained that this experience allowed her to realize that defendants generally have very little knowledge of the law, which led her to always be careful in explaining her decisions to them.
In 2013, then-President Barack Obama appointed Ketanji Onyika Jackson to the position of Judge for the United States District Court in Columbia, stating, “Ms. Jackson has established herself as a highly qualified attorney and dedicated public servant.” , adding, “I am grateful for his willingness to serve and trust that he will be an unwavering voice for Justice and fairness in the Sentencing Commission.”
In 2019, Jackson spoke out on a dispute between House Democrats and the administration of former President Donald Trump, as lawmakers sought to subpoena former White House counsel Don McGahn. At that time, Trump assured that his close advisers were protected from testifying in Congress, something that the magistrate rejected, assuring that the presidents were not “kings”.
Several days after her arrival at the White House, Joe Biden appointed her to the federal appeals court in Washington, considered the second highest court after the Supreme Court. She was confirmed with the support of all Democrats and three Republicans.
A week of controversial questions
Joe Biden had promised to be the first US president to appoint an African-American woman to the post of Justice of the Supreme Court. For this to be effective, the Senate must approve the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson by a vote that will take place in April. Jackson has a strong chance of passing as the Senate is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats and it is the Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris, who will have the final say on a tie.
The Supreme Court has been highly controlled by white men throughout history, leading President Biden to want more diversity. In almost 200 years of existence, the court has had 120 judges, of whom 115 have been men and 117 have been white.
Jackson’s interview week in the Senate once again reflected the split between the Republican and Democratic sides, but also the orientation of the debate on the nominee’s gender and skin color.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz asked him, for example, if he considered babies to be racist or if he could give a definition of being a woman, which Jackson refused to do.
Another Republican senator asked her, “What role does race play, Justice Jackson, in the kind of judge you have been and will be?” To which he responded “I don’t think race plays a role in the kind of judge I have been and would be, in the way you asked that question.”
The Supreme Court is now made up of 3 Democratic and 6 Republican judges. Jackson’s nomination would not change this distribution but it would be strongly symbolic and would renew its membership, with her being the second youngest judge, with key issues such as abortion rights to be decided in the coming months.
with local media
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