Cape Town – Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has officially been confirmed to the Supreme Court of the US by a vote of 53-47, according to official reports.
Justice Jackson becomes the first black woman in history to sit on the nation’s highest court.
In a statement, the White House said that Judge Jackson’s breadth of experience across the legal system has provided her with the perspective to be an exceptional justice and garnered bipartisan support for her nomination.
According to Spectrum News, Vice-President Kamala Harris – the first woman and first person of African American and Asian American heritage to serve in the nation’s second highest office – presided over the historic vote, with a visitors’ gallery filled with lawmakers, officials and Congressional staffers watching the historic proceedings, said reports.
The Guardian reported on Thursday that the president of the national association for the advancement of coloured people (NAACP) Derrick Johnson has welcomed Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court will be more diverse than it has ever been. Not only will a black woman serve as a justice for the first time in American history, but the court will, for the first time, have four women. It will also have three people of colour for the first time in its history, according to Vox.com.
Jackson, 51, will replace Justice Stephen Breyer, a fellow liberal judge for whom she once clerked, upon his retirement in June, according to official reports.
IOL