*Will Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson Make History as the First Black Woman on the Supreme Court?
The Senate confirmation hearing for Harvard law grad and DC native Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51 gets underway today. She is the first Black woman under consideration and has gone through the Senate confirmation process three times previously. She has served less than a year in her current role on the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals. Before that, she was a judge on DC’s federal trial court for eight years. Raised in Miami, she was also vice-chair of the US Sentencing Commission between 2010 and 2014. All three roles required Senate confirmation testimony, yet those were not as high profile as the SCOTUS position, a lifelong job.
Importantly, last week she cleared all the hurdles in her meetings with senators. President Joe Biden formally gave her his blessing in a formal introduction at the White House last month. She looks “good” going into the inquisition, but Washington is known to be full of surprises. With a 50-50 Democratic-controlled Senate, the odds are extremely tight with only a couple of conservatives expressing she may have their support. and her performance in front of the Republicans has to be flawless to secure the seat.
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Over the next 4 days, Republicans are going to grill Jackson on her stellar record. Questions may be asked about her views on abortion, race issues, and immigration. So far, her record on crime has been the point of concern for Republicans.
Meanwhile, Justice Clarence Thomas, who is currently the sole Black person on the high court has been hospitalized with flu-like symptoms. A spokesperson says he is expected to return in the next few days.
It is long past time to see another Black person in the Supreme Court. Justice Thurgood Marshal was the first to sit on the prestigious bench in 1967. Thomas, the second Black on the court was confirmed in 1991. If confirmed Jackson (whose first and middle names mean “lovely one” in and African language) will be the 116th SCOTUS on the bench, replacing Justice Stephen Breyer.
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