In late March, as Ketanji Brown Jackson spent hours answering questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, black women gathered across the country to cheer him on.
Tameika Isaac Devine, a lawyer who ran for mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, co-hosted one of those celebratory get-togethers. The participants played bingo there with the words most heard during the hearing of the candidate for the Supreme Court – among other things “qualified” and “Harvard”.
joy and pride
“We got angry when we saw some questions, the lack of respect, that we cut her off, all that, but whatever, they won’t steal our joy: we know that she will be our next judge at the Supreme Court and we are all very proud”, points out Tameika.
The contestants even paused to send voicemails to Lindsey Graham, the conservative senator from South Carolina, when he interrupted Ketanji Brown Jackson during the audition.
“What was great was that pride and joy, because she represents all of us and she does it really well,” added Tameika Isaac Devine.
Black Americans indeed welcome the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson. This would be the first black woman to join the Supreme Court, which is an essential step towards greater diversity at the highest level of the State. On the other hand, her arrival would probably not call into question the balance of power in this body with a conservative majority since she would replace Judge Stephen Breyer, another progressive.
The country’s highest court has seen about 115 judges since its creation in 1789. Only five were women, and none of them considered themselves black. If Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination is confirmed, the Court will present the highest parity in its history – five men against four women.
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