President Joe Biden has settled on Ketanji Brown Jackson as the nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, he confirmed on social media.
I’m proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court. Currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional Justice.https://t.co/iePvhz1YaA pic.twitter.com/Nzqv2AtN8h
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 25, 2022
Jackson currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after narrowly passing Senate confirmation in 2021 with a vote of 53-47. Three Senate Republicans joined Democrats to support her nomination.
The White House expects the decision to be announced on Friday as the president stated his desire to have his nominee selected before the end of February. He also likes to spend his weekends at home in Delaware.
Jackson does not have a distinguished reputation as a judge. Although a graduate of Harvard Law who clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, Jackson has not built the reputation of a powerhouse judge. She has only been an appeals judge for less than one year. Prior to that, she was a federal trial judge in D.C. who was often reversed by higher courts, and critics describe her writing style as “clunky.”
Prior to being a judge, Jackson worked as a public defender, creating an easy target for Republicans that Jackson is soft on crime, especially during a time when many Democrats are still calling for defunding the police.
The president chose a black woman, calling it “long overdue” for the Supreme Court. Critics are likely to say that Jackson’s lack of a distinguished resume makes Biden’s choice of her a matter of racial preferences, rather than choosing the best liberal judge for the nation’s highest court.
Talk has also started in Washington about how the massive “dark money” ultra-liberal billionaires’ group Arabella Advisors has been pushing Jackson, over the other short-list finalists whom many conservatives considered more formidable.
“The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience, and integrity, and that person will be the first black woman ever nominated to the Supreme Court,” he said in January, announcing his intent to keep his campaign promise made during his 2020 presidential campaign.
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