Jackson, 51, was long rumored the leading contender to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced last month that he would retire at the end of the Supreme Court’s current term, pending his successor’s confirmation. Jackson was confirmed last summer by the Senate to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, widely considered the second most important court in the country.
In her remarks on Friday, Jackson noted that she shares a birthday with Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge. The two barrier-breaking women were born 49 years apart to the day.
“Today I proudly stand on Judge Motley’s shoulders, sharing not only her birthday, but also her steadfast and courageous commitment to equal justice under law,” she said.
The Harvard graduate shares the Ivy league pedigree often found on the Supreme Court, but Jackson would bring career diversity to the nation’s highest bench with her background in criminal defense and public interest law. Jackson was an assistant federal public defender in Washington from 2005 to 2007 and worked as a staff member for the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Former President Barack Obama nominated her to the district court in Washington in 2012 and she was confirmed the following year.
During Friday’s speech, Jackson recounted key clerkships that molded her path, including her time clerking for Breyer during the Supreme Court’s 1999-2000 term.
“Justice Breyer, in particular, not only gave me the greatest job that any young lawyer could ever hope to have, he exemplified every day, in every way, that a Supreme Court justice can perform at the highest level of skill and integrity while also being guided by civility, grace, pragmatism and generosity of spirit. Justice Breyer, the members of the Senate will decide if I fill your seat, but please know that I could never fill your shoes,” Jackson said.
Jackson talked about her belief in God and said her faith brought her to this moment. She also talked about her family and the influence her parents, both public school teachers, had on her early life. Jackson’s father went to law school mid-career, and her mother worked full-time while he transitioned jobs, she said.
“Some of my earliest memories are of him sitting at the kitchen table reading his law books. I watched him study, and he became my first professional role model,” she said.
She praised her brother, a Howard University graduate, who worked as a police officer and then as a detective in Baltimore. He later enlisted in the U.S. Army and served two tours in the Middle East, she said. Jackson also addressed head-on her uncle’s life sentence for his involvement in the drug trade but quickly pivoted to her other uncles who have served for decades as police officers. The White House, too, made a point on Friday in its roll out of her nomination to emphasize Jackson’s ties to law enforcement.
Jackson then spoke directly to her husband of 26 years, surgeon Patrick Jackson, and her two daughters, Talia and Leila.
“You are the light of my life. Please know that whatever title I may hold or whatever job I may have, I will still be your mom,” Jackson said. “That will never change.”
Jackson was confirmed to her current spot on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last summer with the support of all 50 Democratic senators and three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Graham, who had loudly pushed for Biden to nominate South Carolina federal Judge J. Michelle Childs, said Jackson’s selection “means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again.” Collins called Jackson “an experienced federal judge with impressive academic and legal credentials” while Murkowski noted that her past support for Jackson’s confirmation to lower courts should not be taken as an indication that the Alaska senator would vote in favor installing Biden’s Supreme Court nominee.
But even without Republican votes, Jackson could be confirmed along party lines in the evenly divided Senate with the support of all 50 Democrats plus a tie-breaking vote from Harris.
Biden on Friday touted Jackson’s legal background and noted that she had been confirmed by the U.S. Senate three times. He said his process, which ultimately led to his selection of Jackson, included seeking the advice of Republicans, Democrats, legal scholars and the vice president.
“Judge Jackson deserves to be confirmed as the next justice of the Supreme Court,” Biden said. “I met with the chairman and ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Chuck Grassley, and my hope is that they will move promptly, and I know they’ll move fairly.”