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President Biden on Feb. 25 nominated federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s retirement. (Video: The Washington Post, Photo: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)

Biden introduces historic nominee Jackson, tapped to be first Black female justice

Updated February 25, 2022 at 4:02 p.m. EST|Published February 25, 2022 at 9:21 a.m. EST
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President Biden on Friday announced his historic pick of federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court, following through on a campaign pledge to nominate the first Black woman to the nation’s highest court in its 223-year history.  
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) has publicly set a goal of confirming Biden’s nominee before the Easter recess, which is scheduled to begin April 8.
Although Biden made history with his choice, it will not change the court’s 6-to-3 conservative majority.
Biden’s pick comes amid the unusual circumstances of an ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia that has dominated the news for several days.
Biden interviewed at least two other candidates for the job: J. Michelle Childs, a federal judge in South Carolina, and Leondra Kruger, a justice on the California Supreme Court, according to people familiar with the process.
Black activists and women’s groups that banded together to protect Vice President Harris from racist and sexist attacks before and after the 2020 election are remobilizing for the battle over Biden’s nominee.

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Ketanji Brown Jackson

The latest: Ketanji Brown Jackson will be sworn in as the Supreme Court’s first Black female justice at noon Eastern time on June 30, just minutes after her mentor Justice Stephen G. Breyer makes his retirement official. It is the first time the Supreme Court will have four female justices among its nine members.

The votes: The Senate voted 53-to-47 to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, with three Republican senators joining every Democratic and independent senator. Here’s how each senator voted on Jackson’s nomination.

The nominee: The president named Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, as his first Supreme Court nominee. She is set be the first Black woman justice in the court’s history.

What it means: The Democrats will succeed in their efforts to replace the oldest of three liberal justices on and further diversify the Supreme Court ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

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