Supreme Court pick inspiring for local Black female attorneys

President Joe Biden’s pick for the next Supreme Court justice is inspiring minorities across the country and getting applause from local Black attorneys.

The President nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court Friday, making her the first Black woman selected to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed segregation.

In Jackson, Biden delivers on a campaign promise to make the historic appointment and to further diversify a court that was made up entirely of white men for almost two centuries. He has chosen an attorney who would be the high court’s first former public defender, though she also possesses the elite legal background of other justices.

“Too long our government, our courts haven’t looked like America,” the president said. “I believe it’s time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation, with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications.”

It’s history in the making. Her nomination is already an inspiration for people across the country – including Jacksonville attorneys La Fonda Middleton and Lauren Prater.

“This is so so powerful for someone like me,” said Jacksonville attorney Lauren Prater. “To be a Black female lawyer and have someone reach the highest cord of our land, it shatters all ceilings. It shows me that anything is possible.”

Prater said if she’s confirmed, Brown Jackson would help the nation’s highest court represent Americans.

“It’s so exciting to finally see some diversity,” Prater said. “Especially when we are dealing with court rulings. It’s really important to have representation, diversity of thoughts, diversity of ideas, this is a great step for our country and I really really look forward to the impact that she’s going to have on the bench.”

51-year-old Brown Jackson is currently a federal appeals judge in DC where she was born. But she grew up in Miami, where she graduated high school before going to Harvard.

“It’s about time don’t you think?” said Jacksonville attorney LaFonda Middleton.

Middleton, who’s the first member of her family to graduate college, said this is a big step in the right direction, not just for black women, but everyone who is underrepresented.

“With all the cases that come before the highest court in the land, we need diversity of thought and color on the bench as well,” she said. “So that will make America a more fair place? I think so absolutely.”

Jackson will be the current court’s second Black justice — Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative, is the other — and just the third in history.

She will also be only the sixth woman to serve on the court, and her confirmation would mean that for the first time four women would sit together on the nine-member court.

The current court includes three women, one of whom is the court’s first Latina, Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Jackson will join the liberal minority of a conservative-dominated court that is weighing cutbacks to abortion rights and will be considering ending affirmative action in college admissions and restricting voting rights efforts to increase minority representation.

Biden is filling the seat that will be vacated by Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, who is retiring at the end of the term this summer.

Her nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority by a razor-thin 50-50 margin with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker. Party leaders have promised swift but deliberate consideration of the president’s nominee.

The next justice will replace one of the more liberal justices, so she would not tip the balance of the court, which now leans 6-3 in favor of conservatives.

The news comes two years to the day after Biden, then struggling to capture the Democratic presidential nomination, first pledged in a South Carolina debate to nominate a Black woman to the high court if presented with a vacancy.

“Everyone should be represented,” Biden said. “We talked about the Supreme Court — I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court to make sure we in fact get everyone represented.”