Ketanji Brown Jackson made history last week when she became the first Black woman confirmed to the Supreme Court.
On Friday, on the South Lawn of the White House, Jackson delivered a speech where, filled with emotion, she celebrated her historic new position.
“It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. But we’ve made it. We’ve made it. All of us,” Jackson she said, standing alongside President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Jackson secured bipartisan support — 53 to 47, with all Democrats in favor. Senators Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, were the only Republicans to vote in favor of her confirmation.
“The path was cleared for me so that I might rise to this occasion,” she said. “And in the poetic words of Dr. Maya Angelou, I do so now while ‘bringing the gifts my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.'”
Jackson added, “I strongly believe that this is a moment in which all Americans can take great pride. We have come a long way toward perfecting our union. In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden vowed to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court after then-Justice Stephen Breyer announced his plans to retire.
“The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue in my view,” Biden said at the time.
The Biden administration has assembled one of the most diverse in the history of the country.
