Greene County Democrat

Tag: Ketanji Brown Jackson

  • Newswire : Confirmation hearings for Judge Jackson wraps with independent witnesses

    Judge Katanji Brown Jackson


    With public hearings, the historic – and mostly despicable – confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson concluded on Thursday, March 24. And the Republican Party punctuated their four-day-long, racially-charged, and otherwise disrespectful digs at Judge Jackson.
    
In the classic “I’m not racist, I have a Black friend” portion of their shameful and spineless public denigration of the accomplished Harvard Law graduate, the GOP trotted out First Liberty Institute associate counsel Keisha Russell, a Black woman.
    
Russell, a favorite of GOP allies Fox News and other decidedly Republican-leaning networks, spent her testimony discussing critical race theory. “CRT makes race the predominant factor,” Russell remarked as she read a prepared statement. “America’s history as a lesson and blueprint as to how we must constantly seek to uphold and protect America’s founding promises. For these reasons, First Liberty opposes the nomination.”
    
Additionally, the GOP trotted out Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and administrative law professor Jennifer Mascott, both opposing Judge Jackson’s nominations, falsely stating that the Biden administration has embraced “ideology of the anti-incarceration and anti-police movement.”
    
Mascott insisted that Judge Jackson “may have a different view than traditionally applied methods of originalism,” a philosophy Republican-appointed judges have embraced.
    
Perhaps more forceful than the committee members, Democratic witnesses pushed back.
“We have waited far too long for this day, but we are nonetheless overjoyed that it has finally arrived. Judge Jackson’s presence on the court will matter tremendously,” said Wade Henderson, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
    
Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) decried the assault on Judge Jackson because of her gender and race. The congresswoman urged the Senate to consider Judge Jackson’s record.“[This is a] glass ceiling that many Americans believed that they would never live to see broken,” Congresswoman Beatty asserted. “Judge Jackson’s confirmation vote must not be isolated to her gender or her race. Instead, I urge you to examine her credentials and sterling judicial records closely. They read like a storybook for a perfectly prepared jurist to sit on the nation’s highest court.”
    
With the close of Thursday’s public hearings, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to meet on Monday, March 28. The committee has tentatively scheduled a vote on the nomination on April 4.
    
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said he expects a full vote by April 11.
Democrats hope that some Republicans join them in voting to confirm Judge Jackson. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), one of the main actors in these hearings, voted in 2021 to confirm Judge Jackson to the powerful D.C. appellate court.
    
Sen. Graham has signaled he’ll vote against confirmation this time.
 Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Susan Collins of Maine, also voted to confirm Judge Jackson in 2021.
    
If the confirmation vote splits along party lines, Vice President Kamala Harris will cast the tiebreaker, assuring Judge Jackson’s ascension as the first Black woman Supreme Court Justice.


  • Newswire: Justice Breyer retiring, opening way for first Black woman to serve on Supreme Court

    Ketanji Brown Jackson, Leondra Kruger, Michelle Childs, Sherrilyn Ifill

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    When President Joe Biden campaigned for office in 2020, one of his most profound pledges included naming a Black woman to the United States Supreme Court. He now has an exceptional opportunity to fulfill that promise.

    Justice Stephen G. Breyer, the senior liberal wing member, announced his retirement, standing beside President Biden at the White House last Thursday. The oldest member of the court, Justice Breyer, 83, was appointed in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.

    Following two appointees by former President Donald Trump, the court spun into conservative control, making President Biden’s upcoming pick more vital.

    But Democrats must act fast with the midterm elections fast approaching, and Republicans could seize control of the Senate and block a Biden appointment.

    “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court, to make sure we, in fact, get every representation,” President Biden declared early in 2021. Out of the 115 U.S. Supreme Court Justices in history, there have been just two African Americans, one Latina, and only five women.

    “This is a big moment in the making,” Ben Jealous, the former NAACP leader and current president of People for the American Way, said recently. “The presumption is that whomever Biden nominates, the first Black woman to the Supreme Court would be filling both the shoes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall,” Jealous asserted.

    Earlier, Aimee Allison, the founder of She the People, an activist group that aims to elevate women of color, called President Biden’s pledge “a step in the right direction.”
    “Appointing a Black woman to the Supreme Court may be his attempt to right past wrongs,” Allison insisted.

    Daniel L Goldberg, legal director of the progressive Alliance for Justice, has said a Black woman on the Supreme Court was long overdue. “It is stunning that in the entire history of the republic, that no African American woman has sat on the highest court in the country,” Goldberg said. “For way too long in our nation’s history, the only people who were considered suitable and qualified for the court happened to be white males.”

    In a statement, the White House said “multiple individuals” are under consideration among them: Judge Michelle Childs of the South Carolina District Court, DC Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger, and civil rights attorney Sherrilyn Ifill.

    Others reportedly being considered include 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Holly A. Thomas, federal Circuit Court Judge Tiffany P. Cunningham, civil rights attorney and 11th Circuit Court candidate Nancy G. Abudu, 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Arianna J. Freeman, NYU law professor Melissa Murray, 7th Circuit Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi, District Judge Wilhelmina “Mimi” Wright, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, and 2nd Circuit Judge Eunice Lee.

  • Newswire: President Biden nominates three Black women for Federal Court of Appeals

    Three women nominated for court positions

    By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

    Remember these names: Ketanji Brown Jackson, Tiffany Cunningham, and Candace Jackson-Akiwumi.  These are President Joseph Biden’s first three nominations for the Federal Court of Appeals. In 2020, Biden pledged to name the first African American woman to the U.S. Supreme Court.  A number of retirements are expected from the federal judiciary now that Donald Trump is out of office. The percentage of African American judges on the federal appellate circuit is inconsistent with the makeup of the broader U.S. population overall. Former President Trump nominated no African Americans of 54 U.S. appellate nominations. President Biden has now nominated U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.  She would replace Merrick Garland who is now U.S. Attorney General. The position is also seen as a steppingstone to the U.S. Supreme Court. President Biden nominated Candace Jackson-Akiwumi to the Seventh Circuit where no African American judge has served in three years. Biden has also nominated Tiffany Cunningham who will now likely become the the first African American judge ever on the Federal Circuit. In December 2020, Biden said, “We are particularly focused on nominating individuals whose legal experiences have been historically underrepresented on the federal bench. Including those who are public defenders, civil rights and legal aid attorneys and those who represent Americans in every walk of life.” The power of the federal judiciary to be the final decision maker on policies that impacts that lives of African Americans unmatched. Former President Trump, along with Sen. Mitch McConnell, nominated many judges to the federal bench who were defined as unqualified by the leading groups who follow judicial nominees. Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist for NNPA and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE. She is also a political strategist as Principal of Win Digital Media LLC. She may be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke