Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, in Washington, March 23, 2022 (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
The US Senate was preparing on Thursday to proceed with the historic confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, where she will be the first black woman to serve on the nation’s highest judicial institution.
This brilliant 51-year-old lawyer was chosen at the end of February by Democratic President Joe Biden, who had promised during his campaign to appoint, for the first time in history, a black woman to the temple of American law.
The magistrate is almost certain to obtain the final green light from the Senate during a vote scheduled for the afternoon. All elected members of the Democratic Party support it, as well as at least three moderate Republican senators.
– “Extraordinary qualifications” –
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson (L) and US President Joe Biden, at the White House on February 25, 2022 (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
Ketanji Brown Jackson will replace progressive magistrate Stephen Breyer, 83, who will retire at the end of June.
Of the 115 justices who have served on the Supreme Court, there have been only five women — four white and one Hispanic — and two black men, one of whom, Clarence Thomas, was appointed by George Bush Sr. still sits.
President Biden has never ceased to praise the “extraordinary qualifications” of this Harvard graduate, who has experience in private and public; and served as a lawyer and federal judge.
This is the Democratic leader’s first appointment to the high court. However, it will not change the balance of power within the prestigious college of nine magistrates, whose mission is to ensure the constitutionality of laws and to settle important societal debates in the United States, such as abortion or marriage for all.
– “Laxity” –
Composition of the US Supreme Court (AFP / )
Before Mr. Biden, Donald Trump indeed had the opportunity to appoint three judges to the Supreme Court, anchoring the case in conservatism, possibly for several decades.
Because of this low stake, the elected Republicans mainly used the hearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson before the Senate to resonate their campaign themes seven months before crucial legislative elections, starting with crime, which according to them is increasing because of the Joe Biden’s “laxity”.
US Democratic Senator Cory Booker during the hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in Washington on March 23, 2022 (AFP/Jim WATSON)
Echoing this thesis, they attacked the candidate on her record as a judge, accusing her of having pronounced light sentences in several child pornography cases, to which “KBJ” sometimes opposed a certain weariness.
The Democrats, who will undoubtedly campaign on the historic nature of this appointment, have on the contrary praised her experience and the support she has from police unions and former prosecutors.
“You are here because you deserve it” and “no one will steal my joy!” launched the black senator Cory Booker during the hearing, in a flight that tore a tear from the magistrate.
Mother of two daughters, Ketanji Brown Jackson is married to a prominent surgeon.