Alessandra Gass, Reporter
@agasscourant
On April 7 the Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her the 116th justice to serve on the highest U.S. court. Though she is a member of the Democratic party, a unified front of Republican opposition to Judge Jackson unraveled as G.O.P. (Grand Old Party) votes began to announce their support.
Senator Susan Collins of Maine (R) was the first to back Judge Jackson, which surprised many due to differing political parties. Soon after, Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced their approval of the Judge.
Judge Jackson graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, and went on to graduate cum laude from Harvard Law. While she began her career as a Supreme Court Clerk, she worked her way through rankings from Public Defender to the Vice-Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, then a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and finally a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
While Judge Jackson has excellent credentials, there was considerable opposition from numerous Republican senators. Many attacked her as a “liberal partisan” with a “questionable record” during her hearing, ultimately glossing over her ample qualification and thorough understanding of the U.S. legal system.
In Sen. Romney’s statement, he dubbed Judge Jackson as “a well-qualified jurist and a person of honor.”
In Sen. Murkowski’s statement regarding Judge Jackson, she said she was choosing to back the nominee partly to “reject the corrosive politicization of the review process for Supreme Court nominees, which, on both sides of the aisle, is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year.”
She has also commended Judge Jackson’s “qualifications, which no one questions; her demonstrated judicial independence; her demeanor and temperament; and the important perspective she would bring to the court” in the absence of Justice Stephen Breyer.
With their votes, the full Senate vote agreed to the move by a vote of 53 to 47.
But, why are a few Republican votes for a Democrat Judge so groundbreaking? In recent years, the division between the left and right has been severe. People have clung very tightly to the standard beliefs of their party, and strictly associated with specific ideology. With the crossing over of Republican votes, many are seeing that it is possible to vote in favor of what you believe versus what your party is supposed to believe.
Regardless of political association, we should celebrate the confirmation of Judge Jackson, as she is the first black woman to sit on a prestigious panel previously dominated by white men. While negative gender and racial bias are still quite prevalent in today’s society, many believe that the acceptance of Judge Jackson is a step in the right direction.
