First Black Woman Nominated for U.S. Supreme Court

History was made today February 25, 2022 when President Joe Biden nominated Federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Judge Jackson currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. When confirmed she will replace Stephen Breyer who will retire at the end of the summer which is the court/s current term.

A little background on Ketanji Brown Jackson. A native Washingtonian, Jackson moved to Florida as a young child with her parents. She went to Miami-Dade Public Schools including Miami Palmetto High School were other notables such as Jeff Bezos Amazon Founder) and Vivek Murthy (Current Surgeon General) also attended. She went on to Harvard College, from which she graduated magna cum laude in 1992, and Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude in 1996. She spent the year between college and law school as a reporter and researcher at Time magazine in New York.

Once nominated and confirmed, the 51-year-old Jackson would be the first Black woman on the court and also one of the youngest justices – second only to Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who celebrated her 50th birthday on Friday. She would bring a wide range of experiences not only as a public defender but also a federal district judge and a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Sources: Scotusblog; cnbc

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