WATCH: Ketanji Brown Jackson Sworn in to Supreme Court as Justice Stephen Breyer Retires
(Photo by Kevin Lamarque-Pool/Getty Images)
President Joe Biden‘s Senate-confirmed Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is being sworn in Thursday at noon, taking the seat of recently retired Justice Stephen Breyer.
Jackson, 51, will be the 116th Supreme Court Justice to sit on the high court and the first Black woman to serve on the bench.
The judge was nominated to the Supreme Court by Biden following Breyer’s announcement to retire after this term, ending his four-decade judicial career. Jackson was confirmed in April, however, her swearing-in could not take place until Breyer completed his final term on the bench.
In a private ceremony at the Supreme Court, Jackson will take the two required oaths administered by Chief Justice John Roberts and then Justice Stephen Breyer.
In a letter to Biden, Breyer notified the White House of his retirement, effective on Thursday and told the President that serving on the Supreme Court bench has been his “great honor.”
Breyer, 83, confirmed that Jackson “is prepared to take the prescribed oaths to begin her service as the 116th member of this Court.” Jackson served as a clerk for Breyer following her graduation from Harvard Law School, in a very full circle replacement.
In April, the Senate confirmed Jackson to replace Breyer on the bench, voting 53-47 on her nomination. Three Senate Republicans, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined the ranks of the 50 Senate Democrats in voting in favor of Jackson’s confirmation.
Jackson will be only the third Black Supreme Court Justice on the bench, following Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, who is currently the highest court’s longest-serving justice. Jackson’s swearing-in also marks the first time that the Supreme Court will have four female justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Amy Coney Barrett — sitting on the bench at the same time.
Jackson is sworn in at a time when the Supreme Court has been at the forefront of domestic American politics, after the ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, and other key opinions on gun rights and environmental regulation. Jackson will not change the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, however, her appointment is historic nonetheless.
Watch above, via CBS News on YouTube.
