The Senate has confirmed Kentanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman Supreme Court justice in history.
Senators voted 53 to 47 to confirm Jackson on Thursday. Three Republicans joined all Democratic senators in voting “yes.” Jackson will be replacing Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement earlier this year. She is expected to be sworn in sometime mid-summer.
Jackson was the most progressive person being considered for the job by President Joe Biden, who had pledged to nominate a Black woman to the High Court. Jackson, a former public defender, is the only person on the Supreme Court who has represented criminal defendants, including people detained in Guantánamo Bay. The last justice with experience as a public defender was Thurgood Marshall, who retired in 1991.
As a D.C. Circuit Court judge, Jackson made rulings favoring unions, including one in 2018, when she rejected executive orders crafted by former President Donald Trump to limit federal workers’ ability to collectively bargain.
With several confirmation hearings for other federal judgeships under her belt, most recently for her role as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she is the most highly vetted modern Supreme Court justice.
During her confirmation hearing, Jackson faced a slew of baseless attacks from far right lawmakers, who used the hearing to bring up their bigoted grievances about racial justice and LGBTQ people. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) berated Jackson seemingly just for being Black, framing her as a proponent of the right’s fabricated version of movements for racial justice, while Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) demanded that Jackson define what a woman is in a series of questions aimed at attacking trans people.
Progressive lawmakers celebrated Jackson’s confirmation.
“Watch your step, concrete ceiling just shattered,” wrote Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts). “Congratulations to the Honorable SUPREME. COURT. JUSTICE. Ketanji Brown Jackson. Now read that again.”
This story is breaking and will be updated.
