On April 7, 2022, for only the 116th time in the 246-year history of the United States, a new Justice was confirmed to the United States Supreme Court. What made Justice 116 so special is, for the first time in American history, she is a Black woman. After the conclusion of the confirmation process, many MFS students and faculty eagerly shared their reaction to the historic event.
President Joe Biden and Associate Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson watch as the U.S. Senate votes on her confirmation to the Supreme Court. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz), Public domain.
On February 25, 2022, Joe Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to succeed Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term. Diversity Co-Clerk, Nia Hipps ’22, said the historic nomination was “long overdue and rightfully deserved.” She added, “It’s important to me as a Black woman to see someone with credentials such as Kentaji Brown Jackson step into such a high [office]. I respect and look up to her.”
Judge Jackson earned her bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from Harvard University, and clerked for three federal judges, including Justice Breyer. She served as Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 2013-June 2021, until she was confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Diversity Co-Clerk, Janiah McRae ’22, concurred with Hipps and added, “I think what’s most meaningful about her nomination is the representation it provides for women of color, but especially Black women throughout the country, as there is now a certain affinity they can feel to our federal government and justice system.”
On April 7, 2022, Judge Jackson was confirmed to the Senate by a vote of 53-47, with Republican Senators Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Lisa Murkowski voting with all Democratic Senators. She will be sworn in as the 116th Justice of the United States Supreme Court after Justice Breyer retires.
History teacher and department chair, Clark Thomson, said that he was “very happy she was confirmed because when you don’t confirm someone just for political reasons, you are making a mockery of what the Supreme Court is going to do, and it’s also incredibly short-sighted.” He elaborated that “the confirmation, even with only three votes from Republicans, suggests we haven’t gotten to that point yet.”
MFS Science teacher Drew Newman, a D.C. native, echoed the sentiment that the confirmation proceeded as it should have. “Congress followed its Constitutional mandate and responsibility to confirm Supreme Court Justices.”
Shay O’Connor ‘23, an avid watcher of the Court, marked the end of the nomination process by saying that he “was happy to see her confirmed in a bipartisan vote that reflected her strong qualifications and thoughtful judicial temperament.”
