The Senate voted 53-47 on Thursday to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson as the newest Supreme Court justice, making her the first black woman to be a member of the nine-judge panel.
President Joe Biden and his nominee viewed the Senate vote unfolding from a television in the Roosevelt Room. Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the proceedings on the Senate floor Thursday.
“Obviously, this is a tremendously historic day in the White House and in the country,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said shortly after the vote.
Thursday’s confirmation came just days after the Senate voted Monday evening to begin debating the nomination of Jackson, with the upper chamber voting 53-47 to discharge her from the Senate Judiciary Committee. All Democrats voted in favor of Jackson proceeding, along with Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged to hold the confirmation vote ahead of lawmakers’ two-week recess that begins Friday. The process moved forward Tuesday after the Senate approved a procedural measure to advance Jackson’s nomination to the high court.
JACKSON NOMINATION MOVES TO FULL SENATE AS THREE REPUBLICANS LEND SUPPORT
“Justice Jackson is the most important example, but we’ve been working on this for over a year,” Schumer said Thursday, touting the 58 federal judges confirmed by the Senate since Democrats took the majority in 2021, noting three-quarters have been women.
“Two-thirds have been people of color. And it’s not just racial and gender diversity that matters. We have strived to lift up judges that bring diversity through their experience,” Schumer said, noting his goal of appointing more public defenders like Jackson, as well as civil rights and election lawyers.
Biden is slated to make a speech over Jackson’s confirmation on Friday, though he released a brief statement on Twitter commemorating the vote.
Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a historic moment for our nation. We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an incredible Justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her. pic.twitter.com/K8SAh25NL5
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 7, 2022
“Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a historic moment for our nation. We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an incredible Justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her,” the president said.
As Jackson’s nomination headed to debate this week, Republicans on the Senate floor continued their objections to the nominee, repeating concerns previously raised during the hours of Senate Judiciary Committee hearings last month.
Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, requested unanimous consent on Tuesday over his PROTECT Act of 2022, legislation he introduced last week to set five-year mandatory minimum sentences for child pornography offenders. The proposal came after days of Hawley raising repeated concerns about Jackson’s record of sentencing child pornography offenders below the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s recommendations.
“The nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court has helped bring this issue front and center,” Hawley said. “Her record of leniency to child sex offenders has been much the center of her hearings, and it has startled the public.”
Despite Republican lawmakers’ concerns over her “judicial philosophy” and questioning of her past career as a public defender, Democrats and White House officials sought to pour cold water on GOP allegations that she delivered light sentences.
Members of the American Bar Association also pushed back on Hawley’s claims that Jackson’s record “endangered children,” citing 250 professionals and judges who were interviewed regarding their experience working with the judge.
Jackson, 51, grew up in Miami and has commended her family’s upbringing of her, speaking highly of her father, Johnny Brown, who later became an attorney for the Miami-Dade school board. Her mother, Ellery Brown, was a principal at the New World School of the Arts, a public high school with a magnet program.
Following her nomination in February, Jackson received endorsements from more than six dozen Republican and Democratic former state attorneys general, as well as backing from the Fraternal Order of Police and dozens of police chiefs and sheriffs.
The incoming justice’s career as a judge first began in 2013 following her confirmation to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Last year, she was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Biden nominated Jackson in late February following the announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement after he spent nearly 28 years on the high court.
“For too long, our government, our courts haven’t looked like America, and I believe it is time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications,” Biden said in February while introducing Jackson.
Her confirmation to the Supreme Court will not change the present 6-3 conservative composition established under former President Donald Trump and then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during the previous administration.
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Jackson will assume her role on the bench later this year after Breyer retires at the end of the 2021-2022 Supreme Court term this summer.
