President Joe Biden may have found a potential Supreme Court nominee in Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who he nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday.
A federal district court judge appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2013, Judge Jackson clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and was previously considered for the high court in 2016.
If confirmed to the Court of Appeals, she would replace Attorney General Merrick Garland, who Mr Obama previously nominated to the Supreme Court. Judge Jackson has notable experience in sentencing reform, having served at the US Sentence Commission as vice president, as well as a public defender.
The judge also has experience handing down prominent decisions, including one against Don McGahn, an ex-White House attorney to former President Donald Trump who she ordered to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. Mr Trump attempted to prevent Mr McGahn from testifying about his alleged obstruction of justice, citing immunity which Judge Jackson wrote “simply does not exist” in her decision.
“Presidents are not kings,” she wrote. “This means that they do not have subjects bound by loyalty or blood, whose destiny they are entitled to control. Rather, in this land of liberty, it is indisputable that current and former employees of the White House work for the people of the United States.”
As president, Mr Biden has vowed to nominate a Black female judge to the Supreme Court, and Judge Jackson has long been viewed as a potential contender to fill the seat. A national orator champion in high school who went on to serve as a federal district court judge for eight years, her nomination the Supreme Court – should a seat open up under Mr Biden’s tenure in the Oval Office – would no doubt be a historic selection.
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Judge Jackson has opened up about the difficulties she said she and other women often experience while working in law, saying in a speech at the University of Georgia: “I think it is not possible to overstate the degree of difficulty that many young women, and especially new mothers, face in the law firm context.”
“The hours are long; the workflow unpredictable; you have little control over your time and schedule,” she continued. “You start to feel as though the demands of the billable hour are constantly in conflict with the needs of your children and your family responsibilities.”
Eventually, she said, she found her footing, and was later nominated by Mr Obama to serve as a federal district judge.
Brian Fallon of the nonprofit group Demand Justice described Judge Jackson in a statement as a “rising star” whose time on the court of appeals “may prove a stepping stone”.
He added: “She and the other public defenders and civil rights lawyers in this group are exactly the kind of judges we need to rebalance our courts.”
Judge Jackson’s nomination to the court of appeals came amid the new administration’s first slate of judicial nominees, which included many racially diverse and female candidates from across the country, unlike Mr Trump’s selection of mostly white male judicial nominees.
In a statement, Mr Biden described the nominees as a “trailblazing slate” of “the very best and brightest minds of the American legal profession” and added: “Each is deeply qualified and prepared to deliver justice faithfully under our Constitution and impartially to the American people – and together they represent the broad diversity of background, experience, and perspective that makes our nation strong.”
