Topline
The Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court Thursday—and while she won’t serve on the court until its next term starts in the fall, she’s already slated to weigh in on major disputes concerning voting rights, LGBTQ discrimination and more.
U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn-in during her confirmation hearing … [+]
Key Facts
The Supreme Court will hear a major case on religious liberty and LGBTQ discrimination with 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, in which a Colorado web designer wants to refuse service to same-sex couples, but is barred from doing so under the state’s anti-discrimination law.
It will also hear a case on whether Alabama’s redrawn congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act and unfairly discriminates against Black voters.
The court already let Alabama put the map into effect for its primary elections while the case remains pending—freezing a lower court order that struck the map down—and Justice Elena Kagan said in her dissent that backing Alabama’s map “would rewrite decades of this Court’s precedent” on voting rights.
Justices will decide next term whether to uphold affirmative action in university admissions, hearing two cases on the policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.
Jackson said during her confirmation hearing she will recuse herself from the Harvard case—she serves on the university’s Board of Overseers—but it’s still possible she’ll hear the UNC challenge.
Other cases the court has already agreed to take up next term include challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act, an Andy Warhol copyright dispute and a case on how wetlands are regulated.
What To Watch For
Justice Stephen Breyer will stay on the Supreme Court until its current term ends in late June or early July, and Jackson can only be sworn in as a justice after he formally retires. The court’s next term will start with an opening conference on September 28, and the court still hasn’t announced a schedule yet for when it will hear the cases it’s already agreed to take up.
What We Don’t Know
How Jackson will rule as a justice, as she’s said her process as a judge is to “[proceed] from a position of neutrality” and look at the facts of each case without preconceived notions coming into play. Though Jackson is expected to be more left-leaning in how she rules, her taking over Breyer’s seat won’t affect the court’s 6-3 conservative tilt, however, so it’s unlikely she’ll have a significant impact on how the court rules under its current makeup.
Key Background
Jackson was confirmed to the Supreme Court Thursday in a bipartisan 53-47 Senate vote, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Mitt Romney (Utah) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and all 50 Democratic senators backing her confirmation. The 51-year-old judge currently serves as a federal appeals judge on the D.C. Circuit Court and has previously served as a federal district judge, a public defender and on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. She will be the first Black woman ever to serve on the court. Though she’s received pushback from Republican senators who believe her record on sentencing child pornography offenders was too lenient—which legal experts widely dispute—Jackson’s confirmation was broadly supported by law enforcement and legal organizations including the American Bar Association.
Further Reading
Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson To Supreme Court (Forbes)
Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson Says She’ll Recuse From Harvard Affirmative Action Case (Forbes)
Affirmative Action Could Soon Be Overturned As Supreme Court Takes Up Harvard And UNC Cases (Forbes)
Justices will hear free-speech claim from website designer who opposes same-sex marriage (SCOTUSblog)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/04/07/here-are-the-first-major-cases-ketanji-brown-jackson-will-hear-on-supreme-court/