NATIONAL: KETANJI BROWN JACKSON MAKES HISTORY AS SHE IS SWORN IN AS THE FIRST BLACK FEMALE SUPREME COURT JUDGE
WASHINGTON — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, will officially make history Thursday as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
She is replacing 83-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer as the court wraps up its last rulings of the term.
With Jackson, there will be four women on the Supreme Court for the next term, a first that has been championed by advocates pushing for more diversity at the top of the nation’s judiciary system.
During her swearing-in ceremony, Jackson will take a constitutional oath administered by Chief Justice John Roberts and a judicial oath administered by Breyer.
Breyer, who served for 28 years on the court, gave notice of his retirement Wednesday in a letter to President Joe Biden.
“It has been my great honor to participate as a judge in the effort to maintain our Constitution and the Rule of Law,” Breyer wrote.
Jackson, nominated by President Joe Biden, was confirmed 53-47 by the Senate in April.
During the four-day Senate confirmation hearings, Jackson spoke of her parents’ struggles through racial segregation and said her “path was clearer” than theirs as a Black American after the enactment of civil rights laws.
Jackson attended Harvard University, served as a public defender, worked at a private law firm and was appointed as a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. FULL STORY HERE
