Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS,15^th April: President Joe Biden on Friday welcomed the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be named as the next Supreme Court judge at a White House ceremony celebrated her confirmation that it was the honor of her lifetime, and that she understood what it had meant to the young Black women and girls who followed along with her nomination process, according to the White House.

“We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America,” President Joe Biden said in an Instagram post that might become its own curiosity of history years into the future since he snapped a selfie of himself and Jackson after the vote.

 ‘We’ve Made It’: Jackson Celebrated Supreme Court Confirmation.

Biden said that the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court has changed the course of American life.

Ms. Jackson told the crowd gathered on the South Lawn that it had taken her family one generation to go from enduring segregation to putting a woman on the Supreme Court, but she noted that it had taken the country much longer.

She said that “It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.” “But we’ve made it. We’ve made it. All of us.”

Judge Jackson said she was daunted by the idea of being a role model to so many, but that she was ready for the task. She paraphrased from Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” to underscore her point: “I do so now while bringing the gifts my ancestors gave. I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”

Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a time of rejoice for Biden, who hailed the moment as one of “real change” in American history as he and his supporters hailed a first black woman in the Supreme Court.

Biden said at the ceremony that “This is going to let so much sun shine on so many young women, so many young Black women, so many minorities,” flanked by Judge Jackson and Vice President Kamala Harris the first Black woman to hold her role. “It is real.”

Judge Jackson recalled substantive meetings with 97 senators and praised for their role in the confirmation process, offering a graceful coda to hours of televised interactions with senators whose questioning was hostile at times. Once again, she pledged judicial independence.

Judge Jackson noted that she had “spent the better part of the past decade hearing thousands of cases and writing hundreds of opinions,”

 

She added “At every instance, I have done my level best to stay in my lane and to reach a result that is consistent with my understanding of the law and with the obligation to rule independently, without fear or favor.”

Judge Jackson is replacing Justice Stephen G. Breyer has said he plans to retire this summer, at the end of the current term.

White House officials said that they had invited the judge’s family, all current and former Supreme Court justices and the three Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah who voted with Democrats on Thursday to confirm Judge Jackson to the ceremony.

Republican senators were not in attendance at the event on Friday, but Mr. Biden praised each one of them who voted to confirm Judge Jackson.

White House official said that Ms. Collins said on Thursday that she had tested positive, as did several Democrats who had been near Mr. Biden in recent days, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. President Biden tested negative on Friday morning.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told that Mr. Biden’s experience as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee had given him “historically exceptional preparation” for a successful nomination process.

Mr. Biden said that Judge Jackson had endured “verbal abuse” and “vile” personal attacks but had shown poise through more than 20 hours of questioning in confirmation hearings that at times turned bruising.

He and Judge Jackson watched the Senate’s confirmation vote together from the Roosevelt Room on Thursday.

White House shared video from the president’s Instagram account of the moment when the two watched Ms. Harris declare the 53-to-47 vote in favor of the judge’s confirmation.

“All right!” Mr. Biden pump his fist and wrapped his other arm around Judge Jackson, who clasped her hands and smiled. “OK.”

Biden took a selfie with the judge in front of a television screen displaying the final vote count.

Top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell refused to say whether he’d confirm another Biden pick if the GOP wins the chamber back in November.

Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, admitted that by partisanship would again thwart yet another constitutional norm that a President gets votes on his judicial nominees.

Thune said “I think it’s going to be hard,”  “Because that’s kind of the environment we’re in right now.”

That “environment” was amply demonstrated by Thune’s colleagues during Jackson’s confirmation process.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton claimed she would have been lenient toward Nazi war criminals.

Cotton, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley all had an eye on future presidential

South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Kentucky’s Paul voted against Jackson.

He voted “no” from the Senate cloakroom, which essentially amounts to a members’ lounge off of the floor.

Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop declined to say why the senator did not wear a tie for the vote when asked by CNN. “He voted. His vote was recorded,” Bishop said.

Paul delayed the final vote for a half-hour before casting his “no” vote from the Senate cloakroom wearing casual clothes. He didn’t respond to a question from Barrett Thursday as to why he was late.

Senators cast votes from the floor of the chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had asked all senators to vote from their desks Thursday, a rare request that’s usually reserved for significant votes, such as Supreme Court nominations.

After the vote, Graham released a web video touting his opposition to Jackson, noted that Democrats “destroy conservative judges and expect us to just clap and vote ‘Yes.’ That’s ridiculous, dangerous, and it’s not going to happen.”

A number of Republican senators also walked out of the chamber after the final vote.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said the judge had shown “a pattern of letting child porn offenders off the hook for their appalling crimes.”

Judge Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Miami.

She graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Justice Breyer’s alma mater and went on to clerk for him during the 1999-2000 during his Supreme Court term.