- US President Joe Biden has nominated 51-year-old Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for the US Supreme Court.
- She is the first African American judge appointed to the country’s highest court.
- Her nomination has yet to be confirmed by the Senate.
“She is one of our nation’s brightest lawyers and will make an exceptional judge,” Biden tweeted. Brown has been the top candidate for the Supreme Court for weeks. She was born in the US capital Washington and grew up in Florida. She studied at Harvard University and worked as a lawyer.
Judge Stephen Breyer, 83, announced his resignation in January. His departure has enabled Biden to fill a seat on the politically contested Supreme Court for the first time since taking office. With its decisions on particularly contentious issues such as abortion, immigration and same-sex marriages, the US Supreme Court repeatedly sets the course for society.
judges for life
The personal details do not change anything about the conservative majority at the court, but are still of great political importance. Ex-President Donald Trump was able to place three judges on the Supreme Court, which is why six of the nine are currently considered conservative. They are appointed for life. Their selection is therefore a highly competitive political process.
The Senate must approve Biden’s nomination. Biden’s Democrats only have a wafer-thin majority in the House of Representatives. Two Republicans and one Republican also voted in favor of Brown’s appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals last year.