President Biden delivered on what he said he would do in his campaign for President, nominating an African-American Supreme Court Justice. He did just that! So many times candidates make promises that they don’t keep just to get elected. Not this time. Biden delivered. Not only did he deliver on his campaign promise, but he brought forth a great nominee in Ketanji Brown Jackson. Now her name probably is one you may of never heard of but she has been making “good noise” for some time. She was born in Washington, D.C. and was raised in Miami, Florida. Her father was a lawyer and mother was a school principle. She would graduate from high school in Florida and go on to Harvard where she would graduate cum laude, and then go on to Harvard Law School and receive her Juris Doctor cum laude in 1996. Needless to say Mrs. Jackson is a very smart and intelligent lady! Here’s a great fact, while she was still in college, her uncle was sentenced to life in prison and years later she was able to take his case pro bono. Not too long after that President Barack commuted his sentence! On the other side of the law, she had another uncle who would go on to become the Police Chief of Miami. Professionally she served as a law clerk to Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. Then she was on to the District Court for the District of Massachusetts, then later years to private practice, then to clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court. She would then go back into private practices for firms such as Goodwin Procter, Feinburg and Rozen LLP. She has been the assistant special prosecutor for the United States Sentencing Commission and assistant public defender in Washington, D.C. In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Jackson to become the Vice Chair of the United States sentencing commission and she was confirmed by unanimous consent in February of 2010 until 2014, it retroactively amended the Sentencing Guidelines to reduce the sentencing range for crack cocaine offenses to bring them more in line with fairer sentences. During Jacksons tenure she has presided over lots of cases but the one most people will probably remember is when she famously said, “presidents are not kings” as it related to President Trump not complying with a subpoena. On March 30th, 2021 President Biden announced his intent to nominate her to replace the vacated seat by Judge Merrick Garland who had stepped down to become attorney general. She was later confirmed on June 17, 2021. Then on February 25, 2022, she was formally nominated by President Joe Biden. While she will have some contentious hearings, I fully believe she will be confirmed as the first female African- American Supreme Court Judge and all I have to say about that is, it’s about darn time! What a great way to kick off Women’s History Month!
