Biden Nominates Kentanji Brown Jackson to US Supreme Court

Jackson could be the first Black woman appointed to the nation’s highest court.

WASHINGTON, DC — For the first time in 231 years, a Black woman has been nominated to serve on the nation’s highest court.

President Joe Biden nominated Kentanji Brown Jackson, a federal appeals court judge, to the Supreme Court on Friday, making good on his campaign promise to nominate a Black woman if given the opportunity.

If confirmed, Jackson would be the current court’s second Black justice — Justice Clarence Thomas is the other — and just the third in history. She would be only the sixth woman to serve on a court that was made up entirely of white men for almost two centuries.

Jackson would replace Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, who is retiring at the end of the term this summer.

Jackson, 51, worked as one of Breyer’s law clerks early in her legal career. She attended Harvard as an undergraduate and for law school, and served on the US Sentencing Commission before she became a federal judge in 2013.

Jackson serves on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a position that Biden elevated her to last year. 

Her nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority by a razor-thin 50-50 margin with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. Party leaders have promised swift but deliberate consideration of the president’s nominee.