First Black woman

Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman selected for the nation’s top court

Jackson, 51, has long been considered the leading contender for the post.

By JOSH GERSTEIN

President Joe Biden has selected D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, making history by picking a Black woman for the nation’s highest court, two sources familiar with the situation told POLITICO.

Jackson, 51, has long been considered the leading contender for the post, particularly after Biden elevated her last year from the trial court bench to the appeals court seen as second in power only to the Supreme Court.

Jackson is popular with liberal legal activists looking to replace Breyer with a justice willing to engage in ideological combat with the court’s conservatives, who now hold a formidable six-justice majority.

Among Jackson’s selling points with left-leaning lawyers: In 2019, she authored an unsparing opinion rejecting former President Donald Trump’s sweeping claims of executive privilege in the House’s investigation into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

“Stated simply, the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings,” Jackson wrote, as she ruled against the Justice Department’s argument that Trump White House counsel Don McGahn was free to ignore a House subpoena at Trump’s direction.

And just two months ago, Jackson joined in a momentous D.C. Circuit decision that turned down Trump’s effort to block his White House records from being disclosed to a House committee investigating the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in South Florida, Jackson would — if confirmed — become the third African-American to serve on the Supreme Court. Her nomination also fulfills a campaign promise by Biden to select an African-American woman as a justice.

Jackson emerged as Biden’s top choice during a month-long search process that reportedly involved the president interviewing at least three women jurists: Jackson, South Carolina federal judge Michelle Childs and California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger.

As a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Jackson shares the Ivy League pedigree common to every member of the high court except its newest, Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Jackson’s resume is also in sync with calls from liberal lawyers for more nominations of judges and justices with backgrounds in criminal defense and public interest law.

After clerking for Breyer, Jackson held various legal jobs, including as an assistant federal defender in Washington, D.C., and as a special counsel to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Former President Barack Obama nominated her to the district court in Washington in 2012 and she was confirmed the following year.

Jackson is likely to face questions during the Supreme Court confirmation process about her rulings as a trial judge that have been overturned by the D.C. Circuit, including her decision rejecting a Trump attempt to fast-track deportations and executive orders limiting the power of government unions.

Jackson’s confirmation is considered highly likely, since any nominee put forward by Biden can be confirmed in the evenly-divided Senate with 50 Democratic votes and a tie-breaker from Vice President Kamala Harris, even if no Republicans go along.

While Supreme Court confirmation battles have become highly partisan affairs in recent decades, there is some prospect of a bipartisan vote for Jackson. When she was up for confirmation to the D.C. Circuit last year, three Republicans — Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — joined with Democrats to approve her elevation.

One potential selling point for Jackson with Republicans: Her family ties to former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan. Her husband’s twin is Ryan’s brother-in-law, and as a member of Congress, Ryan testified in support of her nomination to the district court.

Breyer, who has served on the high court since 1994, handed Biden his first chance at a Supreme Court pick last month by announcing plans to resign when the court takes its summer recess in June or July. The announcement emerged from the 83-year-old justice after more than a year of calls from liberal activists and attorneys for him to step down to make way for a younger justice who could spend decades on the high court bench.