Appointed by Joe Biden to the Supreme Court of the United States, Ketanji Brown Jackson promised Monday that she would defend
"the great
American democratic experiment", if she became the first black woman to sit in the influential institution.
With an assured voice, the 51-year-old judge insisted on her
“independence”
and her
“neutrality”
during introductory remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee responsible for examining her candidacy, broadcast live on American television channels. .
Read alsoFirst black woman appointed to the Supreme Court, Justice Jackson in the Senate test
Without insisting on the historical dimension of her appointment, she paid tribute to all those who helped her rise to this level, starting with her parents:
“After having personally experienced racial segregation”
(…)
“ they taught me that unlike them - who had faced many obstacles - if I worked hard in America, I could become whoever I wanted.
She also hailed
the "integrity, civility and grace" of progressive judge Stephen Breyer, whom she is called upon to replace at the start of the next school year, and of whom she was an assistant when she left Harvard University.
For him, the law aims to "make very different people live together"
, she recalled.
“If I am confirmed, I hope to have the same state of mind”.
The magistrate spoke after the 22 senators of the commission who, in unison, hailed the
“historic nature of her appointment”
.
Of the 115 judges who have served on the High Court, there have been only two black men and five women - none of them African-American, several of them recalled.
"Today is a day of joy",
launched the black democratic senator Cory Booker: the Senate is about to bring down a new glass ceiling! "Beyond the symbol, his arrival will not modify the balances within of the Temple of Law, where the conservative judges will retain a comfortable majority of six seats out of nine.
"political circus"
With Democrats in control of the Senate, the magistrate has a good chance of being confirmed in a vote, likely in early April.
As during her confirmation at the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, she could even obtain a few Republican votes.
But before that, she will have to face a tight interrogation on Tuesday and Wednesday from elected opposition officials.
In their opening statements on Monday, Republicans promised to be
"respectful
," while outlining their angle of attack.
The question-and-answer session “will not be a political circus” and will
“not deal with the racial question, but with substantive matters”
, promised Senator Ted Cruz who, like other members of the commission, has presidential ambitions.
Seven months before the midterm elections, Republican senators are expected to insist a lot on their campaign themes, starting with President Joe Biden's supposed laxity in the face of soaring crime.
To do so, they began to prey on Judge Jackson's unique experience in the criminal justice system.
Uniquely for a candidate for the Supreme Court, she worked as a lawyer in legal aid services and, as such, represented impoverished defendants.
She also served on a commission to make recommendations on federal sentencing.
“You have always wanted more freedom for hardened criminals”
, launched the elected Marsha Blackburn to him, while another said he was “troubled” by his defense, as a lawyer, of certain Guantanamo detainees.
Senator Josh Hawley for his part accused him of having, once he became a judge, retained low sentences in cases of child pornography.
Anticipating these attacks, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin called on them to be restrained:
“I ask each member of this commission to think about how history will judge them”.