Biden to tap Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court, reports say

Federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaking as an honoree at the Third Annual Judge James B. Parsons Legacy Dinner on February 24, 2020 at the University of Chicago Law School. (Photographer Lloyd DeGrane|Wikimedia Commons)

By Ariana Figueroa, Michigan Advance

President Joe Biden is planning to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, according to multiple media reports.

If confirmed by the Senate, Jackson will be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She would replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring this summer. CNN first reported that Biden will announce her nomination at the White House.

Jackson, a top contender from the start, currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She was previously on President Barack Obama’s short list for a Supreme Court pick in 2016 after Justice Antonin Scalia died in February of that year.

Jackson, who was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Miami, has worked as a public defender and was confirmed by Congress in 2009 to serve as vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014. During her tenure, the commission reduced sentences for many crack cocaine offenses, where research has consistently shown disproportionate sentencing rates between Black and white offenders.

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