USA: Biden’s candidate for the Supreme Court clears important hurdle

USA: Biden’s candidate for the Supreme Court clears important hurdle

Likely on the bench soon: Ketanji Brown Jackson can expect to become the first black woman to hold one of the nine seats on the United States Supreme Court.

US President Joe Biden’s nominee for a vacant Supreme Court justice has cleared a major hurdle in the Senate.

After a deadlock in the chamber’s Judiciary Committee, Democrats scheduled a formal Senate plenary vote to move forward with the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. The necessary majority was achieved. The final vote is still pending. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants this to happen by the end of the week. Jackson, 51, would become the first black Supreme Court judge if confirmed in the Senate.

In the plenary session of the Senate, Biden’s Democrats only have a wafer-thin majority. Three moderate Republicans announced that they would vote for Jackson. They already voted with the Democrats in the formal vote on Monday evening and thus helped to achieve a majority of 53 votes. Jackson’s final confirmation is therefore considered secure.

Republicans are mobilizing – but not all

A few Republicans had already voted for her when she was nominated for her current post as a judge in an important appellate court in the capital Washington. Other prominent Republicans have criticized her for being too liberal. Republican Senator Ted Cruz warned that Jackson would be “the most extreme and left-wing judge to ever serve on the Supreme Court.”

Liberal judge Stephen Breyer announced his resignation in January. For the first time in his tenure, Biden has the chance to fill a post on the Supreme Court. So far, the only African American among the country’s nine chief justices is the conservative Clarence Thomas. There has never been a black woman on the bench there.

Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed for life. Their selection is always a hard-fought political process. However, Jackson’s election would not change the current Conservative majority on the court.

Source: Stern

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