Status: 03/23/2022 03:01 a.m
Ketanji Brown Jackson could become the first black woman Supreme Court judge. Even critics can hardly shake their qualifications. Still, the Republicans are making it difficult for her to question the Judiciary Committee.
In the United States, new senators and representatives will be elected at the end of the year. The US Democrats want to show beforehand that they will keep their promise and appoint Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black American woman to be a judge on the Supreme Court.
In one respect, Senator Dick Durbin said at the start of the Judiciary Committee hearing, the Supreme Court has never represented the United States: it has never represented black Americans in its 233-year history. That is why Democrats consider the hearing to be historic. The Republicans, on the other hand, speak of a politically motivated nomination. They accuse the Democrats of being too soft on criminals – the nomination of Judge Jackson is further proof of this.
In this storm, the 51-year-old lawyer sits behind a desk in a dark, upholstered chair in the Judiciary Committee room, having to explain and defend her previous work to the senators. Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed for life. US President Joe Biden said when she was nominated that Jackson was one of the smartest lawyers in the country.
Inspired by father’s law degree
Jackson grew up in Miami. The family moved south from the US capital, Washington, when Jackson’s father was catching up on a law degree. Her interest in the law goes back to that time, the judge explained in a lecture at the University of Georgia a few years ago. When she was in pre-school, she sat at the home dining table with her father to do her homework. Her father had piled up all his law books and she had her coloring books.
The parents made careers in the public school system. Brown Jackson was accepted after graduating from the American elite university Harvard. She also took drama courses while she was studying – in one scene she acted with Matt Damon, who was studying English at Harvard at the time. Although she was very good, the Hollywood star probably can’t remember her, says the 51-year-old.
14-hour working days at Judge Breyer
Jackson graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, worked as a district court clerk and eventually for Constitutional Court Justice Stephen Breyer, whose position she is now set to take over after his resignation. Often it should have been 14 to 16 hours of work a day. Brown Jackson said she was “just fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on a court that has had such a significant impact on American life.”
After a stint as a lawyer in major law firms to earn money for the family, Jackson worked as a public defender for defendants who could not afford a lawyer. So far, no candidate for the Supreme Court has had this qualification either.
A supporter of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson holds a poster campaigning for her appeal to the Supreme Court.
Image: AFP
At the hearing, Senator Lindsay Graham accused her of arguing for the closure of the Guantánamo prison camp on behalf of clients as a lawyer. That’s no way to fight a war, Graham said. The US would detain enemy combatants as long as they posed a threat.
Senators are pushing for a personal statement
Judge Jackson repeatedly tried to argue that she had submitted the legal opinion on behalf of clients, that it was not her own opinion – but without being obliged to make a personal statement. And so it went: As a judge, she underestimated sentences in child pornography cases, Senator Josh Halley said weeks ago. Rep. Marsha Blackburn tried to drag the nominee into the trans athlete debate, although there was no immediate reason to do so.
The Supreme Court is dealing with a position for life. Therefore, everything is being renegotiated in the Judiciary Committee, even though Jackson has already been confirmed three times by the senators – including Senator Graham. Most recently, when US President Biden nominated her for the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, DC.
A simple majority in the Senate, along with the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, would suffice for Jackson’s nomination. In the end, there may also be individual Republican votes.