The president, Joe Biden, celebrated this Friday at the White House the historic confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black judge to reach the Supreme Court.
"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," she said to applause and cheers, "but we've done it. We've done it. All of us."
Quoting poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, he exclaimed, "I do so now as I bring the gifts my ancestors gave. I am the dream and hope of the slave."
"In my family it took a generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court,"
he added in a confirmation that took 46 days to produce.
She was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday and will take the bench at the end of the summer, taking the place of Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring from a court that was composed exclusively of white men for nearly two centuries.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris applaud Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, April 8, 2022, celebrating her confirmation as the Supreme Court's first black woman. Andrew Harnik / AP
Jackson, who spoke at times through tears as he thanked his family and mentors for their support,
vowed to follow in Justice Breyer's footsteps.
"I have done my best to stay in my lane and come to a result that is consistent with my understanding of the law," he said, "with an obligation to rule independently, without fear or favour."
[Biden lands his first female Supreme Court justice. Will she be the last?]
Jackson's arrival won't upset the court's current conservative balance of 6-3, but it will put four women at once for the first time.
Biden said the promise to put a black woman on the highest court helped motivate him to run for the Oval Office.
"It's going to bring a new perspective to court."
A lawyer discusses the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson as a Supreme Court justice
April 8, 202204:02
"I was able to see it as a day of hope, a day of promise, a day of progress, a day when once again the moral arc of the universe - as Barack (Obama) used to quote all the time - leans a little more towards justice," Biden said at a boisterous event on the South Lawn of the White House.
"I firmly believe that we need a court that looks like the United States," he
added.
Biden praised Jackson's "incredible character and integrity" during the confirmation process, saying he endured "verbal abuse, anger, constant interruptions, the vilest unsubstantiated claims and accusations," as well as the three Republican senators who they joined Democrats in endorsing her.
Jackson will be the first former high court public defender, bringing the elite legal experience of other judges.
She graduated from Harvard and was a senior law clerk, including to Breyer himself.
Among the crowd on the White House lawn were Jackson's family, members of Biden's cabinet, some of the Democratic senators who supported his nomination, as well as Democratic representatives and allies.
The White House said all current and former Supreme Court justices were invited, but none attended.
"The nomination is confirmed": the moment when Brown Jackson makes history and the reactions it generates
April 7, 202202:57
The act took place in the midst of an outbreak of COVID-19 among the Washington political class that has left members of the Administration and legislators out of the game, including Republican Senator Susan Collins and Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was on the guest list, tested positive Thursday.
Jackson will not take office immediately.
Breyer will step down when the court completes his current term, which is usually in late June or early July.
A White House official said Jackson will remain on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals until then, but will continue to challenge cases.