The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to that country’s Supreme Court. Chosen by President Joe Biden, he became first African-American woman to reach the highest court in its 232-year history.

Jackson, known as “KBJ,” passed the Senate exam along with 53 upvotes: All 50 Democrats and 3 moderate Republicans (Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah). The others 47 Republican senators voted against.

He filled the position that Stephen Breyer had vacated upon his retirement. He was appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994 and turned 83 years old in August.

“Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a Historic moment for our town. We have taken another step toward reflecting on our Supreme Court the diversity of America. He will be an amazing judge, I am honored to share this moment with him, ”Biden tweeted.

Get two holding handsthe president and the magistrate followed the vote on television, from Roosevelt’s room in the White House.

From 51 years, appointed Jackson in June 2021 to the Columbia Court of Appeals, a body known for the importance of the cases it faces. This happened in the first months of Biden’s term as president.

His name has already been associated with a possible arrival in the highest court in the United States. The president himself gave hints about it last January, before his appointment was ratified by Congress.

“That person will be the first African-American woman to be nominated in the United States. It’s something that’s too late,” Biden said at the time. All roads lead to Jackson.

Throughout the country’s history, only two African-Americans have worn the Supreme Court robe: Thurgood Marshall (1967-1991) and Clarence Thomas (since 1991). Additionally, only five women have made it to the Court, including three of its current members: Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Amy Coney Barrett.

“That we just made the decision to put this extraordinary jury in the highest court in our territory sends a good message about who we are,” said Kamala Harris, who led the vote on Thursday and is also the first black vice president of the United States.

For Jackson, it was another step down the road he left that was recorded as a request written in the notebook of the Palmetto Institute in Miami, when he was just 17 years old: “To be nominated as a judge for some time. “

favorite of progressives

“This milestone must have happened generations ago (…) But the United States is now providing a giant step to make our union more perfect, ”Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, who in the Senate also received the vote of 50 Democrats and 3 Republican representatives, came to the Supreme Court as one of the favorites of the progressive wing. They point out that, when he was in federal court in Washington last decade, he thwarted some of President Donald Trump’s plans back then.

They also emphasize that almost two decades ago he represented four inmates at Guantánamo naval base (Cuba) and also contributed to the reduction of prison sentences for federal drug crimes, which is disproportionate. affecting the African-American and Latino populations.

In addition, she will be the first female high court judge with experience as an attorney at the federal level for people with limited resources. He himself made sure that he did this work for two years to learn for himself how the criminal justice system works.

Her grandparents grew up in the state of Georgia, in the south of the country. His father and mother attended racially segregated schools and then went on to universities for the black population. Jackson estimates that his ancestors, on both sides of the family tree, “were slaves.”

They chose the name “Ketanji Onyika” in continuation of Africa’s heritage: it means “important”, or so they were told by a relative who visited West Africa.

You are blocking Trump

In its trajectory, the steps are unique made the impossible plans of today’s former president Donald Trump. In 2018, while working in federal court in Washington, he scrapped a plan to make it easier to lay off public sector workers.

In another famous decision, he ruled that the tycoon could not stop a former White House lawyer, Don McGahn, from testifying about the “Russian plot” in front of the United States Congress.

On that occasion, he left a memorable phrase in several sectors: “Presidents are not kings.”

In 2019, he blocked a new Trump plan, which at the time sought to expand the express exports of undocumented immigrants. In the same year, however, he allowed the president to circumvent environmental regulations to end the construction of the wall with Mexico, believing the issue was outside his jurisdiction.

With information from EFE