Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as first Black woman on the Supreme Court
June 30, 2022 10:07 AM   Subscribe

Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in Thursday at noon as the 116th Supreme Court justice and the first Black woman to serve on the high court. At a noon ceremony at the Supreme Court, Jackson was joined by her husband and two children for the swearing in. A formal investiture will follow in fall. Jackson took two oaths during the livestreamed event: a constitutional oath, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, and a judicial oath, administered by Justice Stephen Breyer. posted by ActingTheGoat (33 comments total) 34 users marked this as a favorite
 


This is a magnificent, joyous, marvellous moment at a time when we really, really need to see a good thing happening.

I am so happy for her, and SO happy for us as a nation, to have this brilliant and compassionate woman on our Supreme Court.

Thank you so much for this heartening and inspiring post, ActingTheGoat.
posted by kristi at 10:14 AM on June 30, 2022 [20 favorites]


I hope she's going to be okay. She's coming into the Court at literally the worst time to be there.
posted by all about eevee at 10:26 AM on June 30, 2022 [18 favorites]


She's certainly well capable of writing some terrific dissents, so there's that I guess.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:52 AM on June 30, 2022 [22 favorites]


Between her nomination and her being sworn in the national jurisprudence is become almost unrecognizable.
posted by NoThisIsPatrick at 11:00 AM on June 30, 2022 [3 favorites]


It is a great symbolic day! A day when none became one, when one became two, and when three became four. It is probably not a day that will change Supreme Court jurisprudence for a long time, but I don’t think that was ever really a fair expectation.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:47 AM on June 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


It is probably not a day that will change Supreme Court jurisprudence for a long time, but I don’t think that was ever really a fair expectation.

If we are willing to wait around for that to happen, we will obviously suffer hugely, and probably don't deserve to be called free people. The conservative majority on the court needs to be resisted + destroyed, by whatever means are required.
posted by ryanshepard at 11:53 AM on June 30, 2022 [13 favorites]


For the first time in history, white men are a minority of the Court (though still slightly overrepresented relative to their share of the total U.S. population). And Brown Jackson is a minority in another sense: she's one of only two current Protestant Justices, along with Gorsuch, who was raised Catholic. (From 2010 to 2017, all Justices were either Catholic or Jewish.)
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 11:58 AM on June 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


It's a bittersweet moment. A first for black women, but she's joining a stacked court where her opinions simply don't count.

Just now I'm watching reports of a decision limiting the power of the EPA to regulate power plants. May the Ohio river burn again. It seems like they're on a rampage, ticking off an extreme right wishlist. KBJ will write scathing dissents, but that would only matter if they were concerned about legitimacy or credibility. They aren't.

Very early in the authoritarian playbook is seizing the courts. That's already happened. We're living that right now.
posted by adept256 at 12:01 PM on June 30, 2022 [16 favorites]


She's certainly well capable of writing some terrific dissents, so there's that I guess.

Not to threadsit and my Gen-X cynicism is as bona fide as anyone's, but when I was growing up the Supreme Court was entirely white and Sandra Day O'Connor was the only woman justice. No, this appointment does not change the conservative bias of the current court, but I think that more women on the court, more people of color on the court and specifically, more Black women on the court is a good thing and a positive step. Should we expand the court? Absolutely. There is a whole other thread of people justifiably raging against the current court, we've both posted in it. I for one am glad that Justice Jackson was sworn in today and I hope that others are too. Luckily the white guys have shown up to drop their truth bombs and tell us how wrong we are.

All three of the liberal members of the court are now women. I wish there were more of both on the court and I was dismayed and enraged about the way the three previous justices were appointed. No, we can't take our eyes off the horrendous shit that this court has done and will continue doing, but maybe we can also celebrate the wins.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 12:03 PM on June 30, 2022 [20 favorites]


We probably all have heard the quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg (just checked, and there are different forms of the quote out there), but it bears repeating, especially on a day like this when the needle moves a little closer:
"And when I'm sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]? And I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that."
posted by martin q blank at 12:10 PM on June 30, 2022 [11 favorites]


She's coming into the Court at literally the worst time to be there.

Reminiscent of The Onion's Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job when Obama took office.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:24 PM on June 30, 2022 [14 favorites]


I remember the stories about the close relationship between RBG and Scalia. My impression is that things are very different now and that the Justices don't have that type of relationship anymore. It is hard to work with people every day who actively dislike you because you are different from them. I hope that being around Brett or Neil or Amy doesn't negatively impact her mental health or day to day life.
posted by all about eevee at 12:27 PM on June 30, 2022 [3 favorites]


I mean, at most jobs, if people are unpleasant or you don't enjoy working there, you just go get a new job. That isn't really how things work at the Supreme Court.
posted by all about eevee at 12:29 PM on June 30, 2022


Justice Jackson.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:31 PM on June 30, 2022 [4 favorites]


there are different forms of the quote out there

PBS NewsHour, February 5, 2015
People ask me sometimes, when — when do you think it will it be enough? When will there be enough women on the court? And my answer is when there are nine.
She may have expressed the same sentiment on different occasions.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:34 PM on June 30, 2022 [4 favorites]


My impression is that things are very different now and that the Justices don't have that type of relationship anymore.

It didn't produce anything of value so who even cares, unless RBG was personally behind the scenes holding similar decisions to these back through friendship. And if she was and didn't make it known, she's as spineless a technocrat as most of these 'high integrity politicians' have shown themselves to be. And unable to be replicated.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:11 PM on June 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


IN other words, hopefully Justice Jackson already has friends and judges based on human empathy and jurisprudence, not via sympathy for her buddy.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:13 PM on June 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


A bit off topic, but since this post is about the supreme court ... I hope someone can make a post on the court's EPA ruling. I don't feel qualified but I really want to know what mefites think about this and if it's as bad as it seems like it is.
posted by subdee at 2:17 PM on June 30, 2022 [6 favorites]



A bit off topic, but since this post is about the supreme court ... I hope someone can make a post on the court's EPA ruling. I don't feel qualified but I really want to know what mefites think about this and if it's as bad as it seems like it is.


Some of us have talked about it in the Roe thread, for what it's worth.

Yes, although it could have been worse, it's pretty damn bad.
posted by Gadarene at 4:16 PM on June 30, 2022


A bit off topic, but since this post is about the supreme court ... I hope someone can make a post on the court's EPA ruling. I don't feel qualified but I really want to know what mefites think about this and if it's as bad as it seems like it is.

I feel the same about the Castro-Huerta decision. These are really bad times.
posted by Quonab at 4:55 PM on June 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


Castro-Huerta is awful. Neil Gorsuch--and I never thought I'd say this--writes an absolutely livid, scathing dissent that could not be more on point, accusing the majority of disregarding long-settled law on tribal sovereignty, betraying American principles, and making things up as they go along.

Too bad he can't apply that same level of moral and legal clarity the rest of the time.
posted by Gadarene at 5:33 PM on June 30, 2022 [4 favorites]


It was beautiful. But listening to her repeat the oaths, I can't help but be furious that 5 or 6 of the justices lied when they took theirs.
posted by jwest at 8:31 PM on June 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


I am really, truly thrilled to see a public defender join the supreme court. It is a perspective on the federal legal system that has been absent for far too long.

I did not expect this from Mr. Biden and company, but I am very happy to see it happen.
posted by your postings may, in fact, be signed at 8:47 PM on June 30, 2022 [3 favorites]


This is in no way a reflection on Jackson herself, nor the value of appointing a public defender, nor the value of appointing a Black woman:

But this form of politics being practiced by the Democrat elite, where Biden vowed to and DID appoint a Black woman, but refuses to take the only material action he can to stop a wave of horrific decisions that will endanger and kill by packing the court, where individual representation takes the place of policy and power, is a complete failure.

Representation matters, and Jackson from what I know of her seems to be an extremely able and skillful judge, but Biden's emphasis is all wrong, and if you don't accompany representation with some understanding of power and plan to win, well he's fucking going to get us all killed.
posted by latkes at 10:25 PM on June 30, 2022 [4 favorites]


Great!

Now, could we have four, no five more like her please? Please.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:29 AM on July 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


A bit off topic, but since this post is about the supreme court ... I hope someone can make a post on the court's EPA ruling. I don't feel qualified but I really want to know what mefites think about this and if it's as bad as it seems like it is.

The latest Hot Take / Strict Scrutiny crossover podcast breaks it down in quite some detail.

My simple understanding - Basically it’s really bad - but not quite as bad as people thought it may end up being and the EPA could still regulate green house gas in several ways. The case was very narrow. It doesn't block that much yet. But the bigger battle is yet to be fought.

But the Major Decisions doctrine the Court uses is the horrifying nightmare for almost any regulation on any topic given a hard conservative majority. Basically if the Court thinks a decision has significant political or economic impact then they are totally going to fuck around and find out.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 9:58 AM on July 1, 2022 [2 favorites]


Ugh I meant this Strict Scrutiny Podcast (emergency podcast on the EPA decision)
posted by inflatablekiwi at 10:45 AM on July 1, 2022


Wikipedia:
Jackson then studied government at Harvard University, having applied to Harvard despite her high school guidance counselor's advice to set her sights lower

I'm a white guy around her age, so she is one of those prominent people I evaluate (compare myself to ;) as a peer, and I find her simply an inspiring woman. As someone with an...uneven...history in almost all respects, I look at her life and think, "now that's how you do it!" Public school, family support for early talents, persisting through discouragement...heck, married for 25 years already. I went to high school with some friends who were pretty high achievers, so it's probably me feeling sorry for all the white privilege I didn't gather for myself, but if in some cosmic way some of it went to her I am glad.
posted by rhizome at 1:07 PM on July 1, 2022


Biden ... refus[ing] to take the only material action he can to stop a wave of horrific decisions that will endanger and kill by packing the court ... is a complete failure.

Biden cannot singlehandedly increase the number of justices on the court. Only Congress can do that.

Let's stop demanding things of Biden that are beyond his authority. It feels to me like too many left-leaning people now want him to be a benevolent dictator.

I understand, on an emotional level, the desire for a leader who will fix everything for us. It's an extension of the primal longing for the Good Parent. But it's a bad idea to project that longing onto politicians.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:25 PM on July 1, 2022 [3 favorites]


I'm a white guy around her age, so she is one of those prominent people I evaluate (compare myself to ;) as a peer, and I find her simply an inspiring woman

Same. She and I grew up at the same time in Miami, and some of my friends actually knew her in elementary school. It's pretty cool that she's on the court now.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:28 PM on July 1, 2022


Biden can and should propose court packing then Democratic power brokers like Pelosi should exert all available means (mostly fundraising support) to pressure congress to agree.

I do not want dictator Biden, I want the folks we elected to use the power they do have.
posted by latkes at 4:21 PM on July 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


I'm a white guy around her age, so she is one of those prominent people I evaluate (compare myself to ;) as a peer, and I find her simply an inspiring woman.

I'm a 57-year-old-white guy. Barack Obama was in high school the same time I was. It was weird having someone my age become president because they'd all been old (obvs) white (obvs) guys (obvs) before that, usually my grandpas' age. I mean, I barely manage to pay our bills; I can't imagine running the country, but he did a pretty great job.

As a husband and father of a daughter I emphasized with Obama living with a strong wife, daughters, and mother-in-law who were Not Impressed he was president.

Justice Jackson is very impressive. I love seeing people different from me rise to high office. It's long past time.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:15 PM on July 1, 2022 [1 favorite]


« Older COVID vaccines approved for Americans under five.   |   An area where the egg will not roll away Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments