Ketanji Brown Jackson Marks Supreme Court Confirmation With Moving Speech

Jackson’s appointment fulfills one of Biden’s goals as president to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Jackson would also join the bench as just the third Black person and the sixth woman in its history.

“It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, but we’ve made it,” she said.

Jackson also joins the court with similar accomplishments as other justices, including Harvard degrees and selective clerkships. But the new associate justice also carries with her experience as a federal public defender and member of the US Sentencing Commission.

The historic weight of the event was clear for Jackson, who noted the fact that her parents were victims of segregation.

“I am also ever buoyed by the leadership of generations past who helped light the way,” Jackson said, mentioning Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Justice Thurgood Marshall, and Judge Constance Baker Motley, who served as the first Black woman on a federal court.

“For all the talk of this historic nomination and now confirmation, I think of them as the true path-breakers,” she said. “I’m just the very lucky inheritor of the dream of liberty and justice for all.”