Ketanji Brown Jackson Becomes First Black Woman Supreme Court Justice

WASHINGTON — Ketanji Brown Jackson took the judicial oath simply after midday on Thursday, changing into the primary Black lady to serve on the Supreme Court.

Justice Jackson, 51, was confirmed in April, when the Senate voted 53 to 47 on her nomination. She will change Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, who’s stepping down with the conclusion of the courtroom’s present time period.

Justice Jackson took each a constitutional oath, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, and a judicial oath, administered by Justice Breyer. The transient swearing in ceremony befell within the West Conference Room on the Supreme Court, earlier than a small gathering of Judge Jackson’s household. Her husband, Patrick G. Jackson, held the Bible.

“I’m pleased to welcome Justice Jackson to the court and to our common calling,” Justice Roberts mentioned and shook her hand. Justice Roberts mentioned there could be a proper investiture within the fall, however the oaths would “allow her to undertake her duties, and she’s been anxious to get to them without any further delay.”

Justice Jackson made no assertion.

Her rise to the courtroom is not going to change it’s ideological steadiness — the newly expanded conservative majority will retain its 6-to-3 majority.

It comes at a time of deep polarization in regards to the courtroom, particularly within the wake of its ruling putting down Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional proper to abortion, and at a time when the courtroom has proven in current rulings that it’s deeply skeptical of the facility of administrative companies to handle main points going through the nation.

Still, the Biden administration and Judge Jackson have underscored the historic import of her elevation to the nation’s highest courtroom.

“It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States,” Judge Jackson mentioned in April at a White House celebration following her affirmation. “But we’ve made it. We’ve made it. All of us.”

Justice Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Miami. She graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Justice Breyer’s alma mater, and clerked for him in the course of the 1999-2000 Supreme Court time period.

President Biden, throughout his 2020 marketing campaign, promised that if elected he would appoint a Black lady to the Supreme Court.