Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Photo: Reuters
This Thursday, the Supreme Court of the United States completed not only the enactment of its sentences corresponding to the period 2021-2022, but also added a new member: around noon, US Eastern Time, Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in and assumed office as a court judge, the first black woman to hold this position.
Jackson, 51, replaces Judge Stephen Breyer, the longest serving member of the court’s liberal wing, who had announced that he retired from his post three months ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts administered the constitutional oath and Breyer the judicial oath
The time when Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in and sworn in as a US Supreme Court Justice. Photo: Reuters
“It took 232 years and 115 previous appointments,” Jackson told the White House after his confirmation in the Senate. “But we did it,” he said.
“And our children tell me they see now, more than ever, that here in the United States anything is possible“, he highlighted.
Ketanji Brown Jackson’s path to the Supreme Court
Jackson, a federal judge since 2013, will be the first black woman to serve as a Supreme Court judge from the United States.
She will join three other women already on the bench, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett, the the first time four women will serve together on the nine-member court.
Judge Stephen Breyer retiring from office which will now be taken over by Ketanji Brown Jackson. Photo: AP
Biden named Jackson in February, a month after 83-year-old Breyer announced it he would retire at the end of the court termalways assuming that his successor was confirmed.
Jackson’s appointment had been confirmed by the Senate a a 53-47 vote in April. Vice President Kamala Harris, the first African American to be elected to her office, presided over the vote.
Breyer’s announcement, which came earlier than usual, along with the conditions he had set for it to happen, was a recognition of the tenuous hold the Democrats have on the Senate in a time of high tension and partisanshipespecially around the positions of federal judges.
Jackson will be able to start work right away, but he won’t be fully into his job in a few months, since then the court has finished most of its work until autumn, beyond the occasional urgent appeals.
This will give you time to settle down and familiarize yourself with the approximately two dozen cases that the court has already decided to study starting in October, as well as the hundreds of resources that will accumulate during the summer.
Source AP
Source: Clarin
