Changes have arrived to a redesigned Causes: Check out new.causes.com!

Civic Register
| 4.6.22

Should the Senate Confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court?

Do you support or oppose Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court?

What’s the story?

  • The Senate is set to vote Thursday on the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. She currently serves as a federal judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and, if confirmed, would succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the nation’s highest court after he retires when the current term ends in June or July.
  • If she’s confirmed, Jackson would be the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She would be the third black justice, following Justice Thurgood Marshall and Justice Clarence Thomas; and would also be the second mother with school-age children to serve on the Supreme Court, joining Justice Amy Coney Barrett. 
  • Thursday’s proceedings in the Senate are expected to feature a procedural vote to formally limit further debate at 11 a.m., followed by a confirmation vote that will occur around 1:45 p.m. depending on how many senators speak on the floor.

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.

What’s the outlook for her Supreme Court confirmation?

  • The Senate Judiciary Committee held the standard four days of confirmation hearings in late March, which featured a day of opening statements, two days of question-and-answer rounds with senators, and a day of testimony by legal experts. The final day featured testimony from the chair of the American Bar Association’s judicial nominations rating panel, who spoke about the ABA’s findings that led it to give Jackson a unanimous rating of “well qualified.”
  • On April 4th, the evenly-divided committee deadlocked 11-11 on a vote to send her nomination to the full Senate. That prompted Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to hold a vote to discharge Jackson’s nomination out of committee later that day.
  • The full Senate voted to bring Jackson’s nomination to the floor on a 53-47 vote in which three Republicans ― Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) ― joined Democrats by voting in favor. Those three GOP senators have all signaled they will support Jackson’s confirmation vote as well, making her confirmation a virtual certainty.
  • When Jackson 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 she 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.
  • The American Bar Association’s judicial nomination gave Jackson a unanimous rating of “well qualified” to serve on the Supreme Court.

RELATED READING


— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Spring at SCOTUS: John Brighenti via Flickr / Creative Commons | Judge Jackson: H2rty via Wikimedia / Creative Commons)