The U.S. Supreme Court, which has not had an African-American woman serve as a justice since its formal establishment in 1789, was broken yesterday.
On April 7, local time, the U.S. Senate voted to approve Ketanji Brown Jackson as a supreme court justice, and she will become the first African-American woman in U.S. history to serve as a supreme court justice.
The Senate voted 53 in favor and 47 against that day, all 50 Democrats and independents voted in favor, and 3 Republicans voted in favor. After the Senate vote, U.S. President Joe Biden said on social media that his approval of his nomination was a historic moment for the United States.
Justice's Nomination to Approval: A Microcosm of America's Polarization
After the Senate voted to approve Jackson, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and most of the Republicans present turned and slowly left, half of the venue leaving and the other half celebrating in cheers, which the New York Times commented clearly reflected the differences between the two parties in the United States.
On Feb. 25, Biden nominated Jackson for the post, replacing liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, who will retire during the adjournment this summer. After Breyer retires in late June or early July, Jackson will be formally sworn in.
Announcing the nomination, Biden praised Jackson's resume and qualifications in his speech, calling him an "extraordinary" candidate with "independent thought, uncompromising integrity and a strong moral compass." Jackson then said it was a "great honor" for her to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kaitanji Brown Jackson, born in Washington, D.C. in 1970, is a 51-year-old graduate of Harvard Law School and began serving as a judge for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Federal Circuit in June 2021. After her official appointment as a justice, she will be the first African-American female justice in the United States and the first justice to serve as a public defender. Figure/IC photo
Jackson's nomination approval was not a smooth one. Since March 21, Jackson has attended four consecutive days of hearings on his nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Xinhua reported. At the hearing, Democrats as a whole expressed support, while Republicans were critical and tried to prove Jackson's weakness on sentencing.
On March 24, McConnell made it clear that he was opposed to Jackson's appointment as justice. "After studying the nominee's record and watching her performance this week, I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson as a lifelong Supreme Court justice."
The outcome of yesterday's Senate vote was very different from the current president, Breyer, who is leaving office. In 1994, when former U.S. President Bill Clinton nominated Breyer, the Senate voted 87 in favor and 9 against him to approve his appointment.
Foreign media pointed out that the mainstream view in the United States at that time was that as long as its nominee met the position, the president had the right to choose a justice. But in recent years, supreme court justice nominations have been seen as a political battleground.
And this time, although the support votes of three Republicans in the Senate vote provide a glimmer of hope for bipartisan cooperation in the United States, its bipolar situation is still glued. The New York Times commented that the support of just three Republicans is seen as a victory [of bipartisan cooperation], which in itself proves that the United States is currently in a deeply divided era.
The balance of power between the two factions of the court remains unchanged, but the pattern remains affected
According to Xinhua News Agency, the US Supreme Court has 9 justices, including a chief justice, who is nominated by the president and needs to be approved by the Senate of Congress, and can serve for life after taking office. Currently, the court is made up of 6 conservative justices and 3 liberal justices.
For a long time, conservatives and liberals in the US Supreme Court have been fiercely engaged in a fierce game around abortion, gun ownership, the death penalty, health insurance, homosexuality and many other socially sensitive issues. The election of the Chief Justice is thus regarded as an important battleground in the struggle between the Republican and Democratic parties.
On April 7, 2022, local time, in Washington, D.C., U.S. President Joe Biden and Catanji Brown Jackson. Figure/IC photo
The BBC commented that the US Supreme Court plays a key role in American life, and the final decisions of highly controversial laws, disputes between the state and the federal government, etc. are determined by the Supreme Court.
Former US President and Republican Trump actively expanded the conservative force of the Supreme Court when he was in power, successfully nominated and appointed three conservative justices, and changed the ratio of conservatives to liberal justices from 5 to 4 to 6 to 3, further consolidating the long-term dominance of conservatives in the Federal Supreme Court.
Jackson's nomination is the first time Biden has adjusted the structure of the justices in more than a year since he took office, but the move will not change the balance of power between liberals and conservatives in the Supreme Court.
But Reuters analysis notes that younger successors will still inject more dynamism into the liberal side, and their impact could last for decades. Politico, a U.S. political news site, also commented that Jackson's appointment would change the U.S. Supreme Court in other ways.
Jackson will be the first African-American female justice on the Supreme Court and the first justice to serve as a public defender.
According to the official website of the U.S. government, if a U.S. citizen cannot afford to defend a lawyer when charged with a crime, the court will appoint a lawyer for him, and these lawyers will be called public defenders. Melissa Redmond, a law professor at the University of Georgia, analyzed that she had served as a public defender or helped Jackson reconstruct the perspective of other judges dealing with certain cases.
Even if Jackson could not influence the court's final decision, he may have expressed his dissent in the case. Fatima Goss Graves, president and ceo of the National Women's Law Center, said, "Dissent is extremely important because they remind the public and the courts, and there are other (handling) methods... They are sometimes a bellwether for future decisions. ”
Biden nominated or won votes in the midterm elections
Foreign media analysis pointed out that Biden's nomination of Jackson this time is intended to win votes in the midterm election known as the "midterm examination".
Democrats have a slight advantage in both houses of Congress, and Biden's "midterm exam" is also challenging. Xinhua News Agency has commented that under the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine, rising oil prices and concerns about rising costs of other commodities have become new pain points in Biden's election year.
According to Reuters reported on March 22, the Ipsos Poll showed that Biden's approval rating hit a record low, falling to 40%, which is a clear warning for the Democratic Party seeking to maintain control of Congress in the November 8 midterm elections.
During his campaign for president, Biden promised to nominate african-American women for justice on the U.S. Supreme Court if given the opportunity. In January, after Breyer confirmed he would resign as justice, Biden also reiterated his commitment to nominate women of African descent.
Politico quoted political analysts as pointing out that there are similarities between the current situation in Biden and the 2020 campaign, where Biden's current approval rating hovers around 40 percent in most national polls and the Democrats have concerns and concerns about losing both houses in this year's midterm elections.
The Associated Press reported that Biden's move to revive his failed campaign has left him with a path to the White House. But whether Jackson's nomination and approval will secure the foundation of Democratic support, especially for African Americans, remains unclear. Politico analyzed that for African-American voters, the democratic parties have shortcomings in major agenda items, such as the reform of the police system.
Alicia Garza, one of the founders of the Black Man's Life Is Life movement, said Jackson's position on the Supreme Court was comforting, but the African-American community was not stupid. "It's still not a right or a benefit that black voters can feel in their pockets or see directly in the community." These are the ones that really change the opinions of poll respondents. ”
In addition, the Biden administration may have made this move to maintain the current balance of power in the federal courts. At the age of 83, Breyer is the oldest judge in the Federal Court and one of three liberal justices.
Source: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Figure/IC photo
Liberals in federal courts have been urging Breyer to resign for months, arguing that Justice Ruth Bud Ginsburg was ill and should have stepped down during the Obama administration, NBC reported. But in 2020, Ginsburg died of cancer at the age of 87, and Trump's nomination of conservative Amy Kony Barrett has further expanded the conservative power in federal court.
And if Breyer can retire during Biden's term, the Biden administration can nominate and guarantee that liberals will still have at least three seats in federal courts for years and decades to come.
Beijing News reporter Hou Wuting Yao Yuan
Edited by Liu Xixian Proofreader Li Lijun