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Civic Register
| 4.7.22

Senate Confirms Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court

How do you feel about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court?

What’s the story?

  • The Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, who will become the first black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court once she’s sworn in as Justice Stephen Breyer’s replacement.
  • Senators voted 53-47 in favor of her confirmation. All Democrats were joined by three Republicans ― Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) ― in voting for Jackson’s confirmation.

What’s next?

  • For at least the next few months, Jackson is expected to continue serving as a federal judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Justice Stephen Breyer, whom Jackson once served under as a law clerk and will ultimately succeed on the Supreme Court bench, announced that he will retire at the end of the Court’s current term pending the confirmation of his successor. 
  • With Jackson now confirmed, Breyer will officially retire once the current term ends, likely in late June or early July. That will allow Jackson to be sworn in as a Supreme Court justice and take her place on the bench.
  • Once Jackson is formally commissioned as a Supreme Court justice, she will be able to fully participate in the process of reviewing cases and authoring opinions. While the Supreme Court’s next term will officially begin in October 2022, there may be emergency petitions that reach the Court for review during the summer.
  • There are already expected to be several high-profile cases on the docket for the Court’s next term, including some related to abortion rights, affirmative action in college admissions, gun rights, immigration, voting rights, and more. 
  • It remains to be seen how Jackson’s jurisprudence will impact the Court once she officially joins as a justice. She will join two other justices who were nominated by Democratic presidents ― Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor ― who have represented the Court’s liberal wing with Justice Breyer since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed in the fall of 2020 as the successor of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Court’s sixth Republican-nominated justice.

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— Eric Revell

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