AMERICA / Joe Biden's Historic Decision Nominated First Black Woman Judge to Supreme Court

US President Joe Biden has made history by nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as a judge on the US Supreme Court. If ratified by the Senate, Jackson would become the first African-American woman in American history to serve on the nation's highest court.

Biden praises Jackson

Announcing his decision, Biden described Jackson as one of the brightest legal minds in America and said she would be an extraordinary judge. Jackson is a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was one of Biden's first federal judicial candidates in 2021. Earlier he has worked as District Court Judge in DC since 2013.

During his presidential election campaign in February 2020, Biden publicly committed to nominating a black woman to court for the first time. Biden cited this amid ongoing debate against the backdrop of racial bias in the criminal justice system, a lack of diversity and representation in court, and a conservative outlook in jurisprudence.

Nine judges in the supreme court

The Supreme Court has nine judges, six of whom are conservative or right-winged (were nominated by the Republican administration) and three who are liberal (were nominated by the Democratic administration). Justice Stephen G. Breyer, who was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton in 1994, announced his retirement last month. Now Biden has nominated Jackson to fill the same position.

Jackson has served as Breuer's former clerk. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Jackson has served as a public defender. A White House statement said she would be the first former public defender to serve as a Supreme Court judge. She will also be the deputy chairman of the US Sentencing Commission.

So far only two black judges

There have been only two black justices on the Supreme Court so far, Thurgood Marshall, who retired in 1991, and Clarence Thomas, who is still on the bench. Jackson has become the sixth woman to become a Supreme Court judge; Three are currently on the bench, and if confirmed she would be the fourth. With this, it will become the most gender-inclusive bench in the history of the Supreme Court.