For the first time in history, an African American judge will be a member of the US Supreme Court. US President Joe Biden has chosen Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace outgoing Judge Stephen Breyer who will remain among the nine togates of the High Court until the June section. So – if confirmed by the Senate – it will be up to Brown-Jackson currently in force at the Washington DC Federal Court of Appeals. He had previously worked on Breyer’s own staff.
Biden will present his pick in the afternoon, then begin the confirmation process right away. The goal is to find consensus even among the Republicans but the Democrats still have a majority – narrow – sufficient to impose the choice – Jackson Brown has already been confirmed three times for public office by the Senate with bipartisan majorities, therefore the possibility of a consensus larger than 51 votes are concrete and would be a sign of detente in a divided and torn Congress on almost all issues and a reflection of a polarized American society
The arrival of the first African American judge at the Supreme Court is historic: “54 years have passed since the death of my father, two since the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, and today a black judge arrives” commented Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, satisfied.
Biden had promised in the election campaign that he would choose an African American woman for the Supreme Court. There were three people in the running, but it seems that the preferences soon fell on Brown-Jackson; of the three of her in fact she was the only one to be “interviewed” in the presence of Biden who was impressed not only by her curriculum but also by her life.
Born in Washington DC 51 years ago, she then grew up in Miami. Her parents had attended black schools in the South and then African American colleges and universities. Both then began their careers as teachers in public schools and became managers in the Miami Dade district. The daughter made it to Harvard where she graduated with honors and was editor of the Harvard Law Review. Like such a Barack Obama.
The Supreme Court will have 4 women and five men and will still retain a conservative majority. In fact, there are 6 conservative judges (among the women there is Amy Coney Barrett): the democratic and liberal front has three women: Brown-Jackson will join Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor destined to take the helm of leader of the minority.