Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson makes Supreme Court debut

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson began her lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court Friday with a brief ceremony preceding next week’s start of the high court’s new term.

Chief Justice John Roberts wished a “long and happy career in our common calling” to his new colleague. Jackson took her seat next to Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh at the end of the bench, but not before maintaining the 50-year-old tradition of sitting in a chair once occupied by late Justice John Marshall, who served on the court from 1801 to 1835.

The investiture ceremony for the nation’s first Black Supreme Court Justice was attended by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, attorney general and former Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Biden vowed during his 2020 presidential campaign that he would put a Black woman on the Supreme Court. He did not speak during Friday’s five-minute ceremony, but his Twitter feed expressed support for Jackson.

“She’s a brilliant legal mind, extraordinarily qualified, and is making history today,” he wrote.

The newly welcomed judge’s family members, including her parents and daughters, also enjoyed a front row to history.

Jackson formally joined the court in June when Justice Stephen Breyer, 84, retired after 28 years on the bench. He was in the courthouse Friday as well.

Only two other Black justices have served on the Supreme Court. Justice Thurgood Marshall broke that glass ceiling in 1967 after being nominated by former president Lyndon B. Johnson. President George H.W. Bush appointed Justice Clarence Thomas to succeed Johnson in 1991. Thomas’ wife Ginni also attended Jackson’s investiture, despite objecting to Biden’s election win, which she still insists was illegitimate despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Roberts walked Jackson down the courthouse steps, where she joined her husband of 26 years, Dr. Patrick Johnson.

“I’m so proud of you,” he told the nation’s 116th justice.

With News Wire Services