https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/07/us/ketanji-brown-jackson-vote-scotus

Supreme Court Highlights: Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson
The 53-47 vote elevated the first Black woman to the pinnacle of the judicial branch as senators erupted in cheers. Three Republicans joined Democrats in supporting President Biden’s nominee.

April 7, 2022

Updated 5:19 p.m. ET

Here’s what you need to know:

The Senate confirms Jackson, elevating the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

The Congressional Black Caucus rallies behind Judge Jackson.
The Senate confirms Jackson, elevating the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman to be elevated to the pinnacle of the judicial branch in what her supporters hailed as a needed step toward bringing new diversity and life experience to the court.

Overcoming a concerted effort by conservative Republicans to derail her nomination, Judge Jackson was confirmed on a 53-to-47 vote, with three Republicans joining all 50 members of the Democratic caucus in backing her. The vote was a rejection of Republican attempts to paint her as a liberal extremist who has coddled criminals. Dismissing those portrayals as distorted and offensive, Judge Jackson’s backers saw the confirmation as an uplifting occasion, one where a representative of a group often pushed into the background instead moved to the forefront.

The vote put her in line to replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer when he retires at the end of the court’s session this summer.

“Even in the darkest times, there are bright lights,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said on the Senate floor. “Today is one of the brightest lights. Let us hope it’s a metaphor, an indication of many bright lights to come.”

He added, “How many millions of kids in generations past could have benefited from such a role model?” At the Capitol, the galleries to witness the historic vote, closed for much of the pandemic, were full of supporters. The chamber erupted in cheers, with senators, staff and visitors all jumping up for a lengthy standing ovation, after the vote was announced.

Not everyone shared in the joy of the day. As applause echoed from the marbled walls, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, turned his back and slowly walked out, as did most of the few Republicans remaining on the floor, leaving half of the chamber empty as the other half celebrated in a stark reflection of the partisan divide.


“When it came to one of the most consequential decisions a president can make, a lifetime appointment to our highest court, the Biden administration let the radicals run the show,” Mr. McConnell had said earlier, making one last argument against the judge, whose nomination he framed as an example of extremists taking control of the Democratic Party. “The far left got the reckless inflationary spending they wanted. The far left has gotten the insecure border they wanted. And today, the far left will get the Supreme Court justice they wanted.”

Three Republicans — Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah — crossed party lines to support Judge Jackson, lending a modicum of bipartisanship to an otherwise bitterly polarized process.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to hold the position and one of just 11 Black senators in American history, presided over the vote — one historic figure presiding over the elevation of another — as senators stated their positions from their desks in a reflection of the magnitude of the moment. More than a dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus, including Representatives Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Joyce Beatty of Ohio, clustered on the Senate floor to mark the occasion.

At the White House, Mr. Biden and Judge Jackson watched the vote together from the Roosevelt Room. Officials said the two would appear at an event on Friday to mark Judge Jackson’s confirmation, though she will not be sworn in for months.

“I’m overjoyed, deeply moved,” Ms. Harris told reporters after the vote. “There’s so much about what’s happening in the world now that is presenting some of the worst of this moment and human behaviors. And then we have a moment like this.”

— Carl Hulse and Annie Karni
Confirmed but on the sidelines: Judge Jackson is now a justice in waiting.

The last three justices to join the Supreme Court did so while its term was already underway, causing them to have to scramble to get up to speed. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will face the opposite problem: an extended stretch in which she will be in an unusual twilight space as a justice in waiting.

Her status is the consequence of Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s early and conditional announcement of his retirement and of quick action by Senate Democrats wary of taking risks in confirming his successor given the closely divided chamber.

The last member of the court to announce his retirement, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, did so on June 27, 2018, which was the last day of the term. He said he would step down the next month, regardless of whether his replacement was confirmed. As it happened, his successor, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh did not take his seat until Oct. 6 of that year, by which time the next term was underway.

Justice Breyer announced his own plans on Jan. 27. “I intend this decision to take effect,” he wrote, “when the court rises for the summer recess this year (typically late June or early July) assuming that by then my successor has been nominated and confirmed.”

That means Judge Jackson, who stopped participating in the appeals court’s work when she was nominated, will be an interested bystander as the Supreme Court issues its big decisions in the coming months, including ones on abortion and guns. She will have time to hire law clerks and study the next term’s docket.

But she will not take the required judicial oath and formally join the Supreme Court until Justice Breyer’s work is done.

According to the Supreme Court’s website, there have been a handful of instances in which new justices were confirmed before retiring ones completed their service. But the months that Judge Jackson will spend on the sidelines appear to set a record.

She will not take the bench until the court returns from its summer break in October, but she will presumably be rested and well prepared for the next term, which will include major cases on affirmative action, voting and gay rights.

— Adam Liptak