[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 60 (Tuesday, April 5, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1959-S1961]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson

  Mr. MARKEY. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of the 
nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as an Associate 
Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. When confirmed, Judge Jackson, who 
currently serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the

[[Page S1960]]

District of Columbia Circuit, will take the seat on the Supreme Court 
that Justice Stephen Breyer has held for almost three decades, so I 
would like to first offer a few words about Justice Breyer as he 
prepares to step down from the Bench.
  Justice Breyer has served the Court and the Nation with grace, 
expertise, humility, brilliance, and an unwavering dedication to 
justice. He has worked tirelessly to build consensus among his 
colleagues, and he has always kept in mind the real-world impacts of 
the Court's decisions on the American people.
  Justice Breyer knew that ``justice for some'' was a failure of the 
Court. From his opinions on voting rights to reproductive rights, to 
the Affordable Care Act, he has been a key voice in many historic 
decisions that have affected so many Americans. We owe him a great debt 
of gratitude. And I am honored and privileged to call Justice Breyer a 
dear friend, and I wish him the best in his retirement.
  Now, in looking for Justice Breyer's successor, President Biden said 
that he wanted to nominate a ``persuasive'' Justice, someone in the 
mold of Justice Breyer, and with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President 
Biden has found that person.
  I am confident that Judge Jackson--who clerked for Justice Breyer on 
the Supreme Court--will follow in his footsteps as a Justice who will 
make a lasting contribution on the Court through her pragmatism, 
evenhandedness, and deep understanding of the Constitution and the 
impact that the Court's decisions have on all Americans.
  And as the first African-American woman Justice on the Bench, Judge 
Jackson's historic nomination is an important and long overdue step 
toward making the Supreme Court better reflect the Nation whose people 
the Court serves.
  Fifty-four years ago yesterday, our Nation, our world, lost the 
guiding light of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to assassination. That 
loss was incalculable. We can only imagine the society we would live in 
if Dr. King were still with us, preaching, marching, teaching, and I 
have no doubt that Dr. King would be on the steps of the Capitol as the 
loudest and proudest voice in support of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to 
be our next Supreme Court Justice and the first Black woman to serve on 
our highest Court.
  He would know that with the appointment and confirmation of Judge 
Jackson, we would take the long overdue step to make the Nation's top 
Court look more like and better represent all of the American people.
  The legacy of the more just, more equal society that Dr. King pushed 
us to create is alive and it is well in this confirmation and on the 
floor and hearing rooms of the U.S. Senate this week.
  The Judiciary Committee held 4 days of hearings on Judge Jackson's 
nomination, including 2 days of testimony from the judge herself. As we 
all saw, some of the questioning of Judge Jackson from some of my 
Republican colleagues was nothing short of offensive, distorting her 
record, and tinged with racism and sexism. But Judge Jackson responded 
with poise. She responded with brilliance. She calmly addressed and 
corrected her questioners' false and misleading premises.
  And she did so while demonstrating deep knowledge of the law and the 
Constitution, respect for precedents, and displaying precisely the kind 
of temperament we expect of someone sitting on the Nation's highest 
Court.
  The hearings showed the Nation that Judge Jackson possesses all of 
the essential qualities of a jurist committed to the words engraved 
above the entrance to the Supreme Court itself ``Equal Justice Under 
Law.''
  Of course, to anyone who knew Judge Jackson before her introduction 
to the Nation as a Supreme Court nominee, none of this was surprising. 
Judge Jackson's qualifications to serve on the Supreme Court are second 
to none. She holds broad experience across the legal profession--as a 
Supreme Court clerk, as a Federal public defender, as an attorney in 
private practice, and as a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, as 
a Federal district court judge, and as a Federal appellate judge.
  It was, therefore, surprising to no one that she earned a unanimous 
``well qualified'' rating from the American Bar Association. Let me 
speak for a moment about one aspect of Judge Jackson's background that 
stands out, and that is her experience as a public defender.
  When confirmed, Judge Jackson will become the first-ever Justice with 
background as a public defender and the first Justice with significant 
criminal defense experience since the service of Justice Thurgood 
Marshall, who retired in 1991. That work as a Federal public defender 
has unjustly come under attack from my colleagues across the aisle who 
suggest that being a public defender means that she is soft on crime.
  But my Republican colleagues--who far too often focus singularly on 
the constitutional right to bear arms--would do well to remember that 
among the Constitution's other enshrined rights is the Sixth 
Amendment's right to counsel in criminal cases. Without that right, 
criminal defendants who cannot afford an attorney would find it 
difficult or impossible to navigate the Court system with their rights 
protected, including the fundamental right to a speedy and fair trial.
  My Republican friends may also want to consider that Judge Jackson 
comes from a law enforcement family, with a brother and uncle serving 
as police officers, and that she has won the endorsement of the 
Fraternal Order of Police, the Nation's largest police union.
  Now, let me remind my colleagues that public defenders do not select 
their client. They take on every assigned case because they are 
committed to preserving and defending constitutional rights for 
everyone. As a Federal public defender, Judge Jackson represented the 
most vulnerable among us. She represented the clients other lawyers 
avoided, and in doing so, she followed a long and honorable tradition 
in the American legal profession that began with John Adams stepping 
forward in 1770 to represent the British soldiers who committed the 
Boston Massacre because he feared that they would not receive a fair 
trial without adequate representation.
  By confirming Judge Jackson, we will affirm that the rights of those 
who cannot afford a lawyer are just as important as the rights of those 
who can pay lawyers charging $1,000 an hour; that the rights of the 
indigent and powerless are just as important as those of the rich and 
the powerful.
  Public defenders also experience firsthand and, therefore, understand 
better than other lawyers just how our justice system treats the 
accused, how it treats people of color, how it treats low-income 
people. Every day, public defenders see the systemic biases and 
prejudices that permeate our criminal justice system.
  At a time when the United States holds more people behind bars than 
any other Nation on Earth--including authoritarian regimes like North 
Korea and China--the highest Court in the land would greatly benefit 
from a Justice with a public defender background. Public defenders 
serve as a unique bulwark of liberty and racial justice. So we should 
welcome a public defender on the Supreme Court, especially one as well 
qualified as Judge Jackson. Her singular perspective and voice are 
sorely needed.
  Judge Jackson's service as a trial judge on the U.S. District Court 
for the District of Columbia is also of particular note in this 
nomination. Only one of the current Supreme Court Justices--Justice 
Sotomayor--has ever served on a trial court. And as a trial court 
judge, Judge Jackson worked to ensure the parties before her understood 
her approach to deciding cases.
  Judge Jackson has explained that, as a trial judge, she emphasized 
speaking directly to the individuals who appeared before her, not just 
to their lawyers. She used the parties' names and treated them with 
respect. She sought to ensure that those whom her rulings would 
directly impact clearly understood the proceedings in which they were 
involved, what was happening, and why it was happening.
  This approach speaks to a judge who understands the importance of 
accessibility to the law, to a judicial process that isn't shrouded in 
mystery, and to a system that fulfills its promise of equal justice 
under the law to everyone. We will be fortunate to have such a Justice 
on the Supreme Court of the United States.
  I have had the opportunity to meet with Judge Jackson one-on-one. I 
came

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away deeply impressed and convinced that President Biden has made a 
great choice. The Senate has already confirmed Judge Jackson three 
times on a bipartisan basis--most recently in June of 2021, when she 
was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit. The Senate should again confirm her 
with bipartisan support.
  And when Judge Jackson is confirmed and becomes Justice Jackson, the 
first African-American woman ever to take a seat on the High Court, she 
will be an inspiration to so many across our country and around the 
globe. She will especially be a role model for young Black girls 
everywhere, showing them that in the United States of America, nothing 
is beyond their reach.
  Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once said:

       Sometimes history takes things into its own hands.

  History says it is time for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and I am 
honored to help her and the Court and our country make history with her 
confirmation.
  I urge all of my colleagues to vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown 
Jackson to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.