On Friday, President Joe Biden is expected to announce his nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. His choice: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer.
If her nomination is confirmed, Jackson will be the first Black judge to sit on the Supreme Court. Additionally, she will be the second-youngest on the current court, at the age of 51. The youngest currently is Justice Amy Coney Barrett who turned 50 in January. Jackson is also the first justice to have the experience of Thurgood Marshall as a defense attorney, according to NBC.
One of Biden’s 2020 campaign promises was to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court.
Jackson was only nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit eight months ago. Justice David Souter is the only one to spend less time on the federal appeals court. He was nominated by George W. Bush after less than five months. However, Jackson also served eight years as a federal judge in Washington.
After Jackson’s confirmation hearing for the position in Washington, she received an endorsement from former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.,
Courtesy of Vince Young (Flickr CCO)
Our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji’s intellect, for her character, for her integrity, is unequivocal. She is an amazing person.
Jackson grew up in Miami but was born in Washington. Her mother was a school administrator. Her father was an attorney for the Miami-Dade school board. In a 2017 speech, Jackson stated that the reason she became a lawyer is that when she was in preschool, she would sit at the dining room table with her father. He would have his law books stacked up and she would have her coloring books stacked up. They would do their homework together.
In high school, Jackson was a national oratory champion and president of the student body. After high school, she attended Harvard University and then Harvard Law School. She was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Breyer who said Jackson was “great, brilliant, decent, with a mix of common sense and thoughtfulness.”
The judge met her husband, Patrick, at Harvard. He is a surgeon at Washington Hospital. The couple has two daughters.
Written by Jeanette Vietti
Sources:
NBC News: Biden to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court; by Kristen Welker and Pete Williams
Featured Image Courtesy of Ismadison’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inline Image Courtesy of Vince Young’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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