By Brenton Blanchet
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson completed a formal swearing-in ceremony on Friday, three months after her official swearing-in was conducted, and three days before the court begins a new term.
The ceremony for Justice Jackson, 52, now the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, was attended by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as their respective spouses, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Also in attendance were Attorney General Merrick Garland, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, Jackson’s husband Patrick Jackson, and the seven other Supreme Court Justices.
“Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has already brought uncompromising integrity, a strong moral compass, and courage to the Supreme Court,” Biden, 79, wrote on Twitter Friday. “Today, we celebrate her formal investiture. This is a day for all Americans to be proud.”
Jackson celebrated her investiture ceremony just days before she is set to give her first oral argument on an environmental case in the Supreme Court on Monday.
After the ceremony, she could be seen walking the steps of the Washington, D.C. spot alongside Chief Justice John Roberts, who swore her in initially in June.
Jackson’s swearing-in to the Supreme Court makes her the court’s 116th associate justice, following the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer. She was nominated by Biden on Feb. 25 and confirmed by the Senate in a 53-47 vote on April 7.
“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,” Jackson said in a speech following her initial confirmation. “We’ve made it. All of us.”
History was also made during Jackson’s confirmation for other reasons, too. She also became the first justice to have previously served as a federal public defender, and as she explained at her confirmation, everyone who has entered her courtroom has “received a fair hearing.”
Of course, Biden’s campaign promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court is now seeing Jackson make history as she joins the rest of the Supreme Court on Monday. With her 53-47 vote, the only Republican senators who voted to confirm her were Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah, following what was an at-times grueling Senate Judiciary Committee testimony.
“After reviewing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s extensive record, watching much of her hearing testimony, and meeting with her twice in person, I have concluded that she possesses the experience, qualifications, and integrity to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court,” Collins later said in a statement. “I will, therefore, vote to confirm her to this position.”
For the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the court will once again allow the public back to hear arguments in its courtroom on Monday.
