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Jackson Sworn In to SCOTUS 07/01 06:27
Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in to the Supreme Court on Thursday,
shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the nation's highest
court.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in to the Supreme Court
on Thursday, shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the
nation's highest court.
The 51-year-old Jackson is the court's 116th justice, and she took the place
of the justice she once worked for. Justice Stephen Breyer's retirement was
effective at noon.
Moments later, joined by her family, Jackson recited the two oaths required
of Supreme Court justices, one administered by Breyer and the other by Chief
Justice John Roberts.
"With a full heart, I accept the solemn responsibility of supporting and
defending the Constitution of the United States and administering justice
without fear or favor, so help me God," Jackson said in a statement issued by
the court. "I am truly grateful to be part of the promise of our great Nation.
I extend my sincerest thanks to all of my new colleagues for their warm and
gracious welcome."
Roberts welcomed Jackson "to the court and our common calling." The ceremony
was streamed live on the court's website. All the justices except for Neil
Gorsuch attended the swearing-in, the court said. There was no immediate
explanation for Gorsuch's absence.
Jackson, a federal judge since 2013, is joining three other women --
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett. It's the first
time four women will serve together on the nine-member court.
"Her historic swearing in today represents a profound step forward for our
nation, for all the young, Black girls who now see themselves reflected on our
highest court, and for all of us as Americans," President Joe Biden said in a
statement after he returned from a trip to Europe. He also thanked Breyer "for
his many years of exemplary service."
Biden nominated Jackson in February, a month after Breyer, 83, announced he
would retire at the end of the court's term, assuming his successor had been
confirmed. Breyer's earlier-than-usual announcement and the condition he
attached was a recognition of the Democrats' tenuous hold on the Senate in an
era of hyper-partisanship, especially surrounding federal judgeships.
The Senate confirmed Jackson's nomination in early April, by a 53-47 mostly
party-line vote that included support from three Republicans.
Jackson had been in a sort of judicial limbo since, remaining a judge on the
federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., but not hearing any cases. Biden
elevated her to that court from the district judgeship to which she was
appointed by President Barack Obama.
Glynda Carr, president of Higher Heights for America, an organization that
advocates for the growth of Black women's political power, said the timing of
Jackson's swearing-in was bittersweet.
"Although we celebrate her today, one Black woman or a cohort of Black women
can't save this democracy alone. We are a piece of it and we are doing our
work, our part. She's going to forever reshape and shape that court. But she's
just a piece of the work that needs to happen moving forward," Carr said.
Because of Jackson's appointment, Judith Browne Dianis, a Black lawyer in
Washington, said she intends to end her protest against joining the Supreme
Court Bar. She started it when Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed in 1991.
She said that even the series of conservative rulings from the court over the
past week cannot take away from the significance of Thursday's ceremony.
"This is a momentous occasion and it's still a beautiful moment," said
Dianis, executive director of the civil rights group Advancement Project.
But, Dianis added, "she's joining the court at a time when conservatives are
holding the line and trying to actually take us back, because they see the
progress that's being made in our country. It's like the Civil War that never
ended. That's the court that she's joining."
Jackson will be able to begin work immediately, but the court will have just
finished the bulk of its work until the fall, apart from emergency appeals that
occasionally arise. That will give her time to settle in and familiarize
herself with the roughly two dozen cases the court already has agreed to hear
starting in October as well as hundreds of appeals that will pile up over the
summer.
She helps form the most diverse court in its 232-year history and is the
first former public defender to be a justice. The court that Jackson is joining
is the most conservative that it has been since the 1930s. She is likely to be
on the losing end of important cases, which could include examinations of the
role of race in college admissions, congressional redistricting and voting
rights that the court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, will take up next
term.
Today's court now is surrounded by fencing, and justices and their families
have 24-hour protection by the U.S. Marshals, the result of a law passed days
after a man carrying a gun, knife and zip ties was arrested near Justice Brett
Kavanaugh's Maryland house after threatening to kill the justice. The bill was
introduced in May shortly after the leak of a draft court opinion that would
overrule Roe v. Wade and sharply curtail abortion rights in roughly half the
states.
The court issued final opinions earlier Thursday after a momentous and
rancorous term that included overturning Roe v. Wade's guarantee of the right
to an abortion. One of Thursday's decisions limited how the Environmental
Protection Agency can use the nation's main anti-air pollution law to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, a blow to the fight against climate
change.
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