Justice Jackson makes history as the first Black woman to serve on the highest court in our country. She’s also only the third Black justice and the sixth woman in the Supreme Court’s more than 200-year history. This moment is long overdue.
As an American, I am so proud. I have seen — we have all seen — her faith in our Constitution and in us as a people that our country and the Court need at this moment.
As a lawyer, I know that Justice Jackson is well qualified for this position — with her impeccable educational credentials, her professional accomplishments, including a Supreme Court clerkship, and her deep experience in public and private practice and as a judge at the district and appellate court. That is why it was so deeply troubling to me to see lawyers in the Senate who know better —not who should know better, who do know better — treat her with such contempt during her confirmation process. Especially my own junior Senator from Texas.
In his remarkable speech during the confirmation process, Senator Cory Booker reminded us all that those who engaged in these acts could not steal his joy, or our joy as Americans in this important, historic moment, and that “the United States will be better” because of Justice Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Watching the vote on Thursday brought tears of joy to my eyes — as I know it did for so many others. And while I want to focus on the joy, I also won’t forget that the confirmation process showed us just how broken our politics are, and how important it is that we elect good people to public office. What we saw from some members of the Senate in this process was a disservice to Justice Jackson, and to all of us.
That’s why those of us who are engaged in campaigns must continue our efforts — to elect good people to office, to put our country on a better path, and to continue the work we witnessed with Justice Jackson’s confirmation this week of making ours a more perfect union.
Together, we can do anything,
