It’s taken more than 200 years, but the US Supreme Court will finally have representation from a black woman after Ketanji Brown Jackson was officially confirmed to take the vacant spot overnight.
The appointment will also see four out of the nine positions on the Supreme Court held by women, for the first time in history.
The Senate vote approving Jackson’s confirmation was won 53 to 47, with Jackson receiving bipartisan approval. All Democrates voted in favour, alongside three Republicans.
The three Republicans who defied their wider party to vote in favour of Jackson included Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.
Jackson currently serves on the US court of appeal. Her confirmation means she’ll become the third black person appointed as a Supreme Court judge, and the sixth woman in history.
She will be replacing the retiring Stephen Breyer, who will leave at the end of the US Summer at the age of 83.
Senate majority leaders Chuck Schumer summed up the history-making moment, just prior to the vote, “Today, we are taking a giant, bold and important step on the well-trodden path to fulfilling our country’s founding promises,” he said.
“This is a great moment for Judge Jackson. But it is an even greater moment for America as we rise to a more perfect union.”
Jackson is expected to meet with Harris as well as President Joe Biden on Friday to share comments on the historic appointment. Biden was with Harris the moment the vote was announced, taking a selfie with Jacksom from the White House. He tweeted that Jackson will be an “incredible justice” and that her appointment to the highest court of America is an important step in reflecting the diversity of the union.
Biden has previously described Jackson as one of America’s “brightest legal minds”, and called out the courts and the American government for not reflecting America.
Jackson will take the appointment at the age of 51. The Harvard law graduate and public defender worked as a clerk for the man she is replacing, early on in her career. In 2009, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the Vice Chair of the US Sentencing Commission, where her work focused on reducing unwarranted sentencing disparities.
Jackson has previously thanked Justice Breyer for giving her “the greatest job that any young lawyer could ever hope to have.”
Now she has the greatest role that any lawyer could hope to have.
Read our profile on Ketanji Brown Jackson here.