Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will become the first black woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, after the Senate backed her nomination yesterday (7 April).

Senators voted by 53-47 to approve her nomination, overcoming widespread opposition among Republicans – including attacks on her sentencing record as a trial judge, and attempts to paint her as a liberal activist.

Three Republicans did back her, however, with former presidential candidate Mitt Romney saying that she “more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity”.

US President Joe Biden hugged Brown Jackson and congratulated her after the vote. In a tweet, he described the vote as an “historic moment for our courts and for our country”.

Broad experience

Jackson will replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who is due to retire in June.

Currently a judge on US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, Biden had previously described her as “one of the nation’s brightest legal minds”.

She has broad experience across the US legal profession – as a federal appellate judge, a federal district court judge, a member of the US Sentencing Commission, an attorney in private practice, and as a federal public defender.