WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President Joe Biden on Friday nominated federal appeals court Judge to the Supreme Court, selected to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed American segregation.
Introducing Jackson at the White House, Biden declared, 鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation."
With his nominee standing alongside, the president praised her as having 鈥渁 pragmatic understanding that the law must work for the American people.鈥� He said, 鈥淪he strives to be fair, to get it right, to do justice.鈥�
In Jackson, Biden delivered on to make the historic appointment and further diversify a court that was made up entirely of for almost two centuries.
He also chose an attorney who would be the high court's first former , though she possesses the elite legal background of other justices as well.
Jackson would be the current court鈥檚 second Black member 鈥� Clarence Thomas, a conservative, is the other 鈥� and just the third in history. She would replace liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, who is retiring at the end of the term this summer, so she won't change the court's 6-3 conservative majority.
Jackson would join the court as it weighs cutbacks to abortion rights and will be considering ending affirmative action in college admissions and restricting voting rights efforts to increase minority representation.
She would be only the sixth woman to serve on the court, but she would join three others already there, including the first Latina, Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
In brief remarks, Jackson thanked Biden, saying she was 鈥渉umbled by the extraordinary honor of this nomination." She highlighted her family's first-hand experience with the entirety of the legal system, as judges and lawyers, an uncle who was Miami's police chief and another who was imprisoned on drug charges.
She also spoke of the historic nature of her nomination, noting she shared a birthday with Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to be confirmed to the federal bench.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 fortunate enough to be confirmed as the next associate justice of the Supreme Court United States, I can only hope that my life and career, my love of this country and the Constitution, and my commitment to upholding the rule of law and the sacred principles upon which this great nation was founded, will inspire future generations of Americans,鈥� she said.
Jackson, 51, once worked as one of Breyer鈥檚 law clerks early in her legal career. She attended Harvard as an undergraduate and for law school, and served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the agency that develops federal sentencing policy, before becoming a federal judge in 2013.
Her nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority by a razor-thin 50-50 margin with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. Party leaders have promised swift but deliberate consideration.
Friday's ceremony was attended only by White House staff, Jackson鈥檚 family and news media, in part because the Senate is out of session this week.
Everyone wore masks because of the pandemic, Biden and Jackson removing theirs to speak. He bent to pull out a lectern step for her to stand on as she made her remarks.
Her introduction came two years to the day after Biden, then struggling to capture the Democratic presidential nomination, to nominate a Black woman if presented with a vacancy.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement that the panel will 鈥渂egin immediately鈥� to move forward on consideration of an 鈥渆xtraordinary nominee.鈥� Senators have set a tentative goal of confirmation by April 8, when they leave for a two-week spring recess. Hearings could start as soon as mid-March.
That timeline could be complicated by a number of things, including and the extended absence of Democratic Sen. of New Mexico, who suffered a stroke last month and is out for several weeks. Democrats would need Lujan鈥檚 vote to confirm Biden鈥檚 pick if no Republicans support her.
Once the nomination is sent to the Senate, it is up to the Senate Judiciary Committee to vet the nominee and hold confirmation hearings. After the committee approves a nomination, it goes to the Senate floor for a final vote.
Biden and Senate Democrats are hoping for a bipartisan vote on the nomination, but it鈥檚 unclear if they will be able to win over any GOP senators after bitterly partisan confirmation battles under President Donald Trump. South Carolina Sen. , one of three Republicans who voted to confirm Jackson to the appeals court last year, had pushed Biden to nominate a different candidate from his home state, Judge J. Michelle Childs, who also was favored by home-state Rep. James Clyburn, a Biden ally.
Graham said earlier this month his vote would be 鈥渧ery problematic鈥� if it were anyone else, and he expressed disappointment in a tweet Friday. Previewing a likely Republican attack line, he and several others on the right said Biden was going with the choice of the 鈥渞adical left.鈥�
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he looked forward to meeting with Jackson and "studying her record, legal views and judicial philosophy.鈥� But he noted he had voted against her a year ago.
Biden has said he was interested in selecting a nominee in the mold of Breyer who could be a persuasive force with fellow justices. Although Breyer鈥檚 votes tended to put him to the left of center on an increasingly conservative court, he frequently saw the gray in situations that colleagues were more likely to find black or white.
鈥淛ustice Breyer 鈥� the members of the Senate will decide if I fill your seat,鈥� Jackson said Friday, praising the retiring justice's 鈥渃ivility, grace, pragmatism and generosity of spirit.鈥�
鈥淏ut please know that I could never fill your shoes,鈥� she said.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, 鈥淲ith her exceptional qualifications and record of evenhandedness, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be a justice who will uphold the Constitution and protect the rights of all Americans, including the voiceless and vulnerable.鈥�
As part of his , Biden, a longtime chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also interviewed Childs and California Supreme Court Judge Leondra Kruger, according to a person familiar with the matter. He consulted with a range of legal experts and lawmakers in both parties and delved deeply into the finalists' legal writings.
Jackson serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a position that Biden elevated her to last year from her previous job as a federal trial court judge. Three current justices 鈥� Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts, the chief justice 鈥� previously served on the same appeals court.
Jackson was confirmed to that post on a 53-44 Senate vote, winning the backing of three Republicans: Graham, Maine鈥檚 Susan Collins and Alaska鈥檚 Lisa Murkowski.
In one of Jackson鈥檚 most high-profile decisions, as a trial court judge she ordered former White House Counsel Don McGahn to appear before Congress. That was a setback to Trump鈥檚 efforts to keep his top aides from testifying. The case was appealed, and a deal was ultimately reached for McGahn鈥檚 testimony.
As an appeals court judge, she was part of a three-judge panel that ruled in December against Trump鈥檚 effort to shield documents from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Miami. She has said that her parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, chose her name to express their pride in her family鈥檚 African ancestry. They asked an aunt who was in the Peace Corps in Africa at the time to send a list of African girls鈥� names and they picked Ketanji Onyika, which they were told meant 鈥渓ovely one.鈥�
Jackson traces her interest in the law to when she was in preschool and her father was in law school and they would sit together at the dining room table, she with coloring books and he with law books. Her father became an attorney for the county school board and her mother was a high school principal. A brother, nine years younger, served in the Army, including in Iraq, and is now a lawyer, too.
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Associated Press writers Mark Sherman, Jessica Gresko and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
Colleen Long, Michael Balsamo And Zeke Miller, The Associated Press
