Biden wins his first female Supreme Court justice. Will she be the last?

By Sahil Kapur—

President Joe Biden on Thursday secured a legacy that is poised to outlast his time in office with the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, to the Supreme Court for life.

But behind the joy and exhilaration of putting the first black woman on the highest court lurks a more daunting question: Could she be both Biden's first judge and his last?

As the November election approaches, Senate Republicans point to a resurgence of heavy-handed tactics, refusing to rule out a full-scale blockade against a Biden candidate for the remainder of his four-year term if a dispute were to take place. vacant.

"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'm not going to make any predictions about what our strategy might be if we do become a majority," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told reporters this week when asked if would commit to allowing a vote on a Biden candidate in 2023.

[Republican Senator Susan Collins Will Vote To Confirm Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson To The Supreme Court]

McConnell added that he can say "with a fair amount of certainty" that Biden, who "cast himself as a moderate" in 2020, would have to spend the next two years "being a moderate."

It is not at all clear if Biden will have to fill another vacancy.

The next oldest liberal judge, Sonia Sotomayor, is 67 years old.

The oldest of the six conservative justices, Clarence Thomas, is 73 years old.

But if Biden gets that chance, it could all hinge on which party controls the Senate, raising the stakes for the 2022 midterm elections.

"The nomination is confirmed": the moment when Brown Jackson makes history and the reactions it generates

April 7, 202202:57

In 2016, McConnell blocked a vote on then-President Barack Obama's nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, a move that abolished a long-standing tradition of candidates receiving one vote and laid the groundwork for the court's shift to the right. .

Last year, McConnell refused to say whether he would allow a vote in 2023 on a "mainstream liberal" of Biden's choosing if he is in charge.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain responded Thursday night on MSNBC: "It's not our plan to let Mitch McConnell make that decision in 2023.

I'm pretty sure if there's a vacancy on the Supreme Court, Majority Leader Schumer will make sure that person gets a quick and fair hearing."

[Joyful Moments and Partisan Divides: Final Day of Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson]

At a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Jackson this week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said in no uncertain terms that Jackson would not have appeared before the panel if Republicans were in charge.

For Biden, it was a moment of exhilaration after his team worked with the Senate to hold the 50 Democrats together and rip out three Republican senators, giving him 53 votes in the evenly divided chamber, more than the last two nominees received. Republicans with larger majorities.

And she celebrated the moment with Jackson.

A White House official said Biden plans to host an event on Friday "to commemorate Justice Jackson's confirmation."

Moments after Thursday's historic Senate vote, The Verve's celebrated 1997 song

could be heard outside the Senate chamber, blaring on a cell phone.

This captured the mixed feelings about the moment for the Liberals.

[Justice Stephen Breyer plans to withdraw from the Supreme Court, opening the way for Biden to choose another progressive justice]

Despite Jackson's nomination, the court will remain the most conservative in nearly a century, maintaining a 6-3 Republican majority that is expected to change the life of the country by curtailing the right to abortion and expanding the right to weapons, among other important decisions that will be made in court during this term.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, with President Joe Biden, after being nominated to be a Supreme Court Justice, at the White House on February 25, 2022. SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images

"It's a legitimate moment of joy for a lot of people

," said Brian Fallon, a former Senate counsel and co-founder of the progressive group Demand Justice.

“But there will be a splash of cold water in June, even before he is sworn in.

It will become clear what we still face.

... The highest consideration has to be to do something to cushion the lurch to the right that the court is taking the country to.”

“It is extremely important to keep the Senate,” he said, advising Democrats to make the court a “political villain” when they run for election.

“Democrats in general need to get more comfortable with the idea of ​​invoking the court as an enemy and running against the court in the course of our campaigns,” he added.