Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black female Supreme Court justice in the US

United States made history this Thursday when the Senate confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black female Supreme Court justice.

The upper house of Congress erupted in applause when the 51-year-old woman was confirmed by a vote of 53 to 47 as one of nine justices, guaranteeing that white men will no longer be a majority on the highest court for the first time in 233 years.

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President Joe Biden he called it “Historic moment” for the country.

“This milestone should have happened generations ago … But the United States today is taking a giant step to make our union more perfect.””, affirmed the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.

jackson won the support of three Senate Republicans during a grueling and sometimes brutal confirmation process that gave Biden a bipartisan endorsement for its first Supreme Court nominee.

President Joe Biden hugs Supreme Court nominee Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as they watch the Senate vote on her confirmation from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (AP /Susan Walsh/)

It’s a significant achievement for the president, who chaired the Senate judiciary committee in the 1980s and 1990s, meaning he has the unprecedented distinction of nominating and overseeing the appointment of a Supreme Court justice.

It allows him to show black voters that he can deliver on promises he made to them despite his recent defeat on a voting rights bill.

At just 42 days, it was one of the shortest confirmations ever.

Guardian of the Constitution

As it has the final say in all civil and criminal legal disputes and as the guardian and interpreter of the Constitution, the Supreme Court must guarantee equal justice before the law.

It also arbitrates disputes in all aspects of life, from religious freedom and the right to vote to the possession of weapons and access to abortion.

Four of the court’s nine judges will be women once jackson take office, making it the most diverse court in history, even though they all attended Harvard or Yale law school.

Of the five justices, four are white and Clarence Thomas is African-American.

Jackson, who followed the vote from the White House with Bidenis the only candidate for a confirmed Democratic president since Elena Kagan in 2010.

He replaces liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, for whom he worked in the past.

So while his confirmation is historic, it won’t change the 6-3 conservative majority. If that were at stake, the fight could have been even more acrimonious.

“Corrosive politicization”

Schumer guided jackson through a contentious and grueling confirmation process.

Republicans accused the Washington appeals court judge of being “soft” with child pornography cases, even though his sentencing record is in line with that of other federal judges.

Others insinuated that she sympathized with the terrorists for having defended Guantánamo prisoners as a public defender, and one even suggested that she had sympathized with Nazi criminals.

Lisa Murkowski, one of three Republicans who supported jacksonstated in a statement that his support was in “rejection of the corrosive politicization of the review process”. Another Republican supporter of jacksonSusan Collins agreed with her.

Nevertheless jackson has maintained strong support among public opinion. A new Politico/Morning Consult poll showed nearly half of voters thought the Senate should support her, compared with 26% who opposed and 25% who did not.

Source: Elcomercio