President Biden Nominates Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court

What’s the story?

• President Joe Biden tweeted Friday morning that he will nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement when the current term ends in June or July pending the confirmation of his successor. A formal announcement is expected later Friday, and Biden tweeted that Jackson “is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional Justice.”
• If confirmed, Jackson would be the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, fulfilling Biden’s campaign pledge to nominate the first black woman to the nation’s highest court. She would also be the second mother with school-age children to serve on the Supreme Court, joining Justice Amy Coney Barrett who was confirmed in 2020. 
• Senate Democrats haven’t yet scheduled Jackson’s confirmation hearings in the Judiciary Committee, although party leaders have said they would like to move the process along quickly. Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) has previously indicated they will likely occur about three weeks after her formal nomination. That could allow for Jackson’s confirmation prior to the recess that begins on April 11th.  

Who is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson?

• Jackson, 51, is a federal judge of the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and has served in that role since June 2021, when she replaced Judge Merrick Garland who resigned to serve as attorney general for the Biden administration. 
• The D.C. Circuit is considered the nation’s second-highest court behind the Supreme Court because its jurisdiction includes Congress and many federal agencies, which means it deals with a caseload heavy on constitutional and administrative law and tends to produce future Supreme Court justices. For instance, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh were both elevated from the D.C. Circuit.
• Prior to joining the D.C. Circuit Court, Jackson served as a federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2013.
• Perhaps the most notable case she has been involved in at the district court level was House Judiciary Committee v. McGahn, in which members of Congress sued Don McGahn, who was White House Counsel during the Trump administration, in an attempt to compel his testimony before an impeachment inquiry into obstruction of justice. Jackson rejected the administration’s argument of executive testimonial immunity and wrote a lengthy opinion that gained media attention for her statement that “presidents are not kings”. The court ruled in the House’s favor, although the ruling has been appealed by the Justice Dept.
• Jackson earned her undergraduate degree with honors from Harvard University in 1992 and her law degree with honors from Harvard Law School in 1996. She was an editor of the law review in law school.
• She served as a law clerk for three federal judges, including Judge Patti Saris in the District of Massachusetts (1996-97), Judge Bruce Selya of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (1997-98), and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (1999-2000).
• Jackson worked in private law practice before and after her clerkships. She then worked as a special counsel to the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2003-05 and an assistant federal public defender in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals from 2007-10. 
• She was then appointed by President Barack Obama to be vice-chair of the Sentencing Commission in 2010 and confirmed by unanimous consent, she served in the role until her appointment to the bench. During her time on the commission, it reduced the guideline sentencing range for crack cocaine offenses and reduced a two offense-level reduction for drug crimes.
• Jackson and her husband Patrick have two children age 21 and 17. Her husband is the twin brother of former House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) brother-in-law, and Ryan introduced Jackson at her 2012 Senate confirmation hearing for her district court nomination.

How did her previous Senate confirmations go?

• When she was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2013, the Senate confirmed Jackson on a voice vote.
• In 2021 when Jackson was nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Senate confirmed Jackson on a 53-44 vote with all Democrats and three Republicans ― Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) ― voting in favor.
• It remains to be seen how much bipartisan support her Supreme Court nomination will garner given the contentious nature of recent Supreme Court confirmations and the heightened level of vetting nominees undergo compared to district or circuit court nominations. 

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: H2rty via Wikimedia / Creative Commons)