U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow last Thursday met with President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Following the meeting, Stabenow called Judge Jackson an extremely qualified nominee and urged the Senate to confirm her.
“Today I had the privilege of a meeting in my office with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Our conversation focused on her decades of experience, her judicial philosophy, and her views on the Supreme Court’s impact on our democracy. From her clerkship at the Supreme Court, to her work as a public defender, to her distinguished service on the D.C. District Court and Circuit Court, Judge Jackson’s background makes her uniquely qualified to serve the American people on the Supreme Court,” said Stabenow.
“Both Republicans and Democrats have voted for her for past judicial positions, which only affirms her qualifications, character, and integrity. I look forward to moving her forward through the confirmation process,” Senator Stabenow continued.
On February 25, Biden announced that Jackson would be the nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who will retire from the Supreme Court this year. Jackson would become the 116th associate justice of the United States Supreme Court and the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Jackson was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Miami, Florida. She graduated from Harvard University, then attended Harvard Law School, where she graduated cum laude and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Jackson was one of Biden’s first judicial nominees. She was confirmed with bipartisan support to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2021. Jackson is a former public defender and represented defendants who did not have the means to pay for a lawyer. She would be the first former federal public defender to serve on the Supreme Court. President Obama nominated Jackson to be a district court judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2012. She was confirmed with bipartisan support in 2013. Earlier in her career, Jackson served as Justice Breyer’s law clerk and learned up close how important it is for a Supreme Court justice to build consensus and speak to a mainstream understanding of the Constitution.
The U.S. Senate hearings during which senators will hear from Jackson and ask her questions will begin on Monday, March 21, and continue throughout the week.
