WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden used his primetime platform of his first State of the Union address to make the case for confirming Miami’s Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court before a national television audience and a chamber full of the lawmakers who will weigh the judge’s nomination.
Biden’s speech came just four days after he nominated Jackson, a federal appeals judge, to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, a historic pick which would make the Miami Palmetto High School graduate the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s high court.
“One of the most serious constitutional responsibilities a president has is nominating someone to serve on the United States Supreme Court,” Biden said. “As I did four days ago, I nominated Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. One of our nation’s top legal minds, who will continue Justice Breyer’s legacy of excellence.”
Born in Washington, D.C., Jackson spent the bulk of her childhood in South Florida as a member of a family with deep ties to Miami’s public institutions.
Jackson’s father, Johnny Brown, worked as a public school teacher before earning a law degree and eventually became the chief attorney for the Miami-Dade School Board, while her mother, Ellery Brown, served as principal at the New World School of Arts, the district’s magnet high school for the arts. Her uncle Calvin Ross served as Miami’s police chief in the 1990s.
Biden pointed to this familial background as he rattled off the judge’s professional credentials, which include stints in the private sector and service as a federal public defender.
“A former top litigator in private practice. A former federal public defender. And from a family of public school educators and police officers. A consensus builder. Since she’s been nominated, she’s received a broad range of support — including the Fraternal Order of Police to former judges appointed by Democrats and Republicans.”
The president also paid tribute to Breyer, 83, who is set to retire after the confirmation of a successor after 28 years on the high court following his appointment from President Bill Clinton. Biden thanked Breyer for his service and hailed Breyer as an Army veteran and constitutional scholar. Breyer received a bipartisan standing ovation.
Jackson served as a law clerk for Breyer from 1999 to 2000.
Biden’s remarks about the court immediately followed his call for Congress to pass voting rights legislation, which implicitly ties Jackson’s nomination to the cause of voting rights as the court is likely to hear a number of election-related cases in the coming years as states, including Florida, have enacted new voting restrictions since the 2020 election.
Later in the speech, he also rebuked efforts to restrict abortion amid concerns that the court could strike down the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide, as states enact new regulations. Florida, for example, is poised to pass legislation that bans abortion after 15 weeks.
“The constitutional right affirmed in Roe v. Wade — standing precedent for half a century — is under attack as never before,” Biden said. “If we want to go forward — not backward — we must protect access to healthcare. Preserve a woman’s right to choose. And let’s continue to advance maternal healthcare in America.”
Jackson will require a simple majority of 51 votes in the 100-member Senate to win confirmation to the high court, which Democrats can deliver on their own with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote if the party remains united behind Biden’s nominee.
Her connections to South Florida have made her nomination a point of pride among Florida Democrats even as the state’s two senators, Republicans Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, appear likely to oppose Jackson’s nomination.
“I’ve known her and her family since she was a little kid and I’m overjoyed that President Biden chose this phenomenal woman as his pick,” said U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson said Tuesday in a Florida Democratic Party phone call previewing the speech. “I will dance in the streets of Miami when she is confirmed.”
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(The Miami Herald’s Bianca Padró Ocasio contributed reporting.)
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