A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday voted to confirm Miami’s Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
The final vote was 53 to 47, with all Democratic members and Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowshi of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah supporting Jackson.
“It’s an extraordinary day and I think it’s a very important statement today about who we are as a nation that we put Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on the highest court of our land,” said Vice President Kamala Harris as she was leaving the Senate chamber.
Jackson watched the historic announcement alongside her family and President Biden at the White House.
Her confirmation vote means that she will be fully sworn in after Judge Stephen Breyer retires in the summer – which is sometime in July. Starting in October, she will start hearing cases which will give enough time to transition into becoming a public figure. Until then, she will remain in her current position on the U.S. Court of Appeals.
President Biden will celebrate Jackson’s historic confirmation on Friday at 12:45pm on the South Lawn of the White House, despite the amid wave of COVID-19 cases among top Biden officials.
