By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson mentioned Friday she has “a seat at the table now and I’m ready to work,” leaning into her history-making position as the primary Black girl on the Supreme Court.
Jackson spoke on the Library of Congress a number of hours after she made her first look on the Supreme Court bench in a quick ceremony that was attended by President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses.
“People from all walks of life approach me with what I can only describe as a profound sense of pride and what feels to me like renewed ownership. I can see it in their eyes. I can hear it in their voices. They stare at me as if to say, ‘Look at what we’ve done,’” Jackson mentioned in remarks that lasted 10 minutes and had been often interrupted by applause from the invitation-only crowd. The video was livestreamed by the Library of Congress.
“They’re saying to me in essence, ‘You go, girl,”’ the 52-year-old justice mentioned.
She mentioned she hopes to be an inspiration to right this moment’s youngsters and pledged to work laborious via inevitable ups and downs.
“I have a seat at the table now. I have a seat at the table now and I’m ready to work,” Jackson mentioned.
Earlier, she was the focus at her ceremonial investiture on the Supreme Court, additionally open solely to these with invites.
Chief Justice John Roberts wished the 52-year-old Jackson a “long and happy career in our common calling,” the standard welcome for a brand new justice.
She took her place on the far finish of the bench to Roberts’ left, simply subsequent to Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The justices are seated by seniority.
During the ceremony Jackson additionally adopted the customized of each different new justice since 1972 and sat in a chair that after belonged to John Marshall, who served as chief justice for 34 years within the early 1800s.
Marshall additionally was a slaveholder, maybe including a particular poignancy to Jackson taking her place in his onetime possession. She is simply the third Black justice within the courtroom’s historical past, alongside along with her new colleague Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Friday’s ceremony included the studying of the fee appointing Jackson to the courtroom. She additionally repeated the oath she took when she formally joined the courtroom in June, simply after the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer.
Breyer was amongst a courtroom full of dignitaries, together with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Speaker Paul Ryan, a Jackson relative via marriage. Jackson’s dad and mom, daughters, brother and in-laws had front-row seats.
Several wives of present and former justices additionally attended, together with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. Thomas, a conservative activist, was interviewed Thursday by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 rebel and stood by the false declare that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Jackson was confirmed in April on a 53-47 vote within the Senate, with three Republican senators becoming a member of all Democrats to help her.
Biden had pledged throughout his presidential marketing campaign that he would nominate a Black girl to the Supreme Court.
Biden, Harris, first girl Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff spent a couple of minutes with the justices earlier than the courtroom convened, courtroom spokeswoman Patricia McCabe mentioned.
The president mentioned nothing through the five-minute, tightly scripted courtroom ceremony.
Back on the White House, Biden tweeted in reward of Jackson’s “brilliant legal mind” and touted his file on filling judgeships.
“In fact, we’ve appointed 84 federal judges so far. No group of that many judges has been appointed as quickly, or been that diverse,” Biden mentioned.
Jackson and Roberts walked down the 36 entrance steps of the courtroom for photographs following the ceremony. They chatted briefly on the courtroom plaza, and when Roberts departed, the justice’s husband, Dr. Patrick Jackson, joined her.
“I’m so proud of you,” Dr. Jackson mentioned, as they embraced in entrance of a gathering of reporters and well-wishers.
Jackson is the primary justice appointed by a Democratic president since Justice Elena Kagan joined the courtroom in 2010. Kagan was appointed by former President Barack Obama, who additionally appointed Justice Sonia Sotomayor in 2009.
It appeared Obama would get a 3rd excessive courtroom choose when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016. But Senate Republicans refused to take up Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland, then serving as a federal appeals courtroom choose. Garland, now Attorney General, additionally participated in Friday’s ceremony.
Former President Donald Trump finally selected Justice Neil Gorsuch, the primary of his three Supreme Court appointees, to fill Scalia’s seat.
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Associated Press author Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”