Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson To Supreme Court

Topline

The Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court Thursday in a 53-47 vote, making her the first Supreme Court justice President Joe Biden has had confirmed of his presidency—and the first Black woman in U.S. history to reach the high court.

Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Capitol Hill, April 4 in Washington, DC.

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Key Facts

Jackson was confirmed Thursday in a bipartisan Senate vote, receiving support from Republican Sens. Mitt Romney (Utah), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) and all 50 Democratic senators.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to serve in that role, presided over the vote.

She will formally start her tenure on the court when its next term starts this fall, as retiring Justice Stephen Breyer will stay on the court until its current term ends in late June or early July.

Jackson currently serves as an 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.

In addition to being the first Black woman on the court, Jackson will also be the first former public defender to serve on the high court.

Crucial Quote

“Today, we are taking a giant, bold and important step on the well-trodden path to fulfilling our country’s founding promise,” Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor before the vote Thursday. “This is a great moment for Judge Jackson, but it is an even greater moment for America as we rise to a more perfect union.”

Surprising Fact

Polling shows Jackson is among the most popular judges in recent history to be confirmed to the court. A Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted after Jackson’s Senate confirmation hearings found 49% of respondents thought the Senate should confirm Jackson and only 26% thought it shouldn’t, which is higher than any of the three justices nominated by former President Donald Trump received upon being confirmed. A Gallup poll conducted before the Senate hearings also found support for Jackson’s confirmation (at 58%) was higher than that of any Supreme Court justice in recent history except for Chief Justice John Roberts, whose confirmation in 2005 was backed by 59% of respondents.

What To Watch For

Jackson is already slated to hear several major cases in her first term on the court, including a religious freedom case from a website designer who opposes doing work for same-sex couples and a dispute on whether Alabama’s new congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act. During her Senate hearing, Jackson said she plans to recuse herself from a case concerning Harvard University’s affirmative action policies, given she serves on the university’s Board of Overseers. The court will also hear a related challenge to affirmative action at the University of North Carolina, however, and it’s unclear if Jackson would recuse from both cases or still hear the UNC dispute.

Key Background

Biden nominated Jackson to the Supreme Court in February after Breyer announced his retirement, fulfilling the president’s campaign pledge to name the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Breyer’s retirement marked the first Supreme Court vacancy of Biden’s presidency, and came after the left-leaning justice had been under heavy pressure from Democrats to retire while the party controlled both the White House and Senate. Jackson will not change the court’s 6-3 conservative tilt, but the 51-year-old justice’s confirmation ensures Breyer’s seat will likely be held by a left-leaning justice for decades to come. Jackson’s confirmation has been widely supported by groups including multiple law enforcement organizations and the American Bar Association, whose standing committee president testified to the Senate that the ABA’s review of Jackson’s record led her to ask, “How does one human being do so much so extraordinarily well?” Nevertheless, a number of Republican senators pushed back on Jackson’s confirmation, claiming she was “soft on crime” and too lenient in her sentences for child pornography offenders—accusations that legal experts have strongly denied.