by Xinhua writer Sun Ding
WASHINGTON, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court in a largely partisan vote on Thursday amid the political divide on Capitol Hill.
The final vote was 53 to 47, with only three Republicans joining Democrats and independents in supporting Jackson to become the first African American woman on the highest court.
HISTORIC MOMENT
U.S. President Joe Biden and Jackson watched the Senate vote, presided over by Vice President Kamala Harris, from the Roosevelt Room at the White House together on Thursday afternoon.
"We've taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America," Biden tweeted alongside a photo of him taking a selfie with Jackson.
"Judge Jackson's confirmation was a historic moment for our nation," the Democrat underlined. "She will be an incredible Justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her."
Since the Supreme Court was established in the United States in 1789, 115 justices have served on the bench. Of them, 108 were white men.
Biden announced in late February the nomination of Jackson to succeed 83-year-old liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who is about to retire this summer.
It was one of Biden's major promises to fill a potential Supreme Court vacancy with an African American woman, which arguably helped turn his 2020 campaign around and set him on a path to the White House.
An event was scheduled at the White House for Friday for the confirmation of Jackson's nomination, but she won't be sworn in until after Breyer -- the oldest justice of the Supreme Court -- leaves the post.
Jackson, who has sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since June 2021, clerked for Breyer during the institution's 1999-2000 term.
PARTISAN DRAMA
Jackson, 51, waded through a contentious confirmation process in the evenly-divided Senate.
While Senate Democrats have praised Jackson's qualifications as well as the historic nature of her nomination, most Republicans have cast doubt on her past rulings.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted against Jackson's nomination along with 46 other Republicans, argued on Thursday that he is concerned about what he sees as a "long and disturbing record of using judicial activism to go soft on crime."
"So Judge Jackson will quickly face a fork in the road," McConnell said from the Senate floor. "One approach to her new job would delight the far left. A different approach would honor the separation of powers and the Constitution."
Born in D.C. but raised in Miami, Jackson received her law degree from Harvard University and graduated cum laude in 1996. Earlier in her legal career, she worked as an assistant federal public defender in D.C. and served as vice-chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission for four years.
Jackson also served more than eight years as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before being elevated to the D.C. Circuit of Appeals -- often referred to as the nation's second most powerful court.
Senate Republicans, particularly Josh Hawley, have assailed Jackson over her judicial record, accusing her of leniency in certain child pornography cases.
Senate Judiciary Chair and Democrat Dick Durbin has come to Jackson's defense, saying that Hawley is "wrong" and "inaccurate and unfair in his analysis."
DIFFERENT DAYS
The Supreme Court is the final appellate court of the U.S. judicial system, with the power to review and overturn lower court decisions, and is also generally the final interpreter of federal law, including the country's constitution.
This year, the Supreme Court will rule on cases involving a series of major issues, including abortion, affirmative action and gun control.
Court watchers say Jackson is expected to vote very similarly to Breyer and her ascension won't change the Supreme Court's ideological balance, in which conservatives have a 6-3 majority over liberals. The justices have life tenure and can serve until they die, resign, retire, or are impeached and removed from office.
CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic believes Jackson, 32 years younger than Breyer, could "bring some fresh thoughts, some fresh blood, if not a different ideology than his."
Confirmation of Supreme Court nominees used to be routine affairs for the Senate, but they've grown increasingly rancorous in the past years.
Democrats still have a grudge against Senate Republicans, who, when they were the majority in 2016, refused to give Merrick Garland, then U.S. President Barack Obama's final Supreme Court nominee, even a hearing, let alone votes.
Republicans have slammed their Democratic colleagues for their treatment of Supreme Court nominees picked by Republican presidents during their confirmations.
Durbin told NBC News recently that the days when liberal titan Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed 96-3 and conservative icon Justice Antonin Scalia was confirmed 98-0 are long gone.
"It was just a different day," the senator acknowledged. "The court has become such a political issue." ■
