Jackson will make his US Supreme Court debut in a brief ceremony

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will make her first appearance on the Supreme Court bench in a brief courtroom ceremony three days before the start of the highest court’s new term.

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses are expected to attend Friday’s invitation-only inauguration ceremony for Jackson, the first black woman on the Supreme Court.

During the ceremony, Jackson, 52, will follow the custom of all new justices since 1972 and sit in a chair that once belonged to John Marshall, who served as Chief Justice for 34 years in the early 19th century. .

Marshall was also a slave owner, which perhaps added a poignant shock to having Jackson take his place in his former possession. She is only the third black judge in the court’s history, joining her new colleague Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Justice Thurgood Marshall.

Friday’s ceremony includes the reading of the proclamation appointing Jackson to court. He will also repeat the oath he took when he formally joined the court in June, just after Judge Stephen Breyer retired.

Jackson was confirmed in April by a 53-47 vote in the Senate, with three Republican senators joining all Democrats in supporting her.

Biden had promised during his presidential campaign that he would nominate a black woman for the Supreme Court.

Jackson is the first judge appointed by a Democratic president since Justice Elena Kagan joined the court in 2010. Kagan was appointed by former President Barack Obama, who also appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor in 2009.

It looked like Obama would get a third high court pick when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016. But Senate Republicans refused to accept Merrick Garland’s nomination by Obama, who was serving as a judge at the time. the federal appeals court. Garland, now attorney general, will also participate in Friday’s ceremony.

Former President Donald Trump ultimately chose Justice Neil Gorsuch, the first of his three Supreme Court appointees, to fill Scalia’s seat.

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