[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 62 (Thursday, April 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2085-S2086]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CONFIRMATION OF KETANJI BROWN JACKSON

  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I come to the floor because today has 
been a good day for our country. Earlier today, the U.S. Senate voted 
to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  Not only did this Chamber make history, we also bore witness--in a 
small but powerful way--to the bending of the moral arc towards 
justice. We realized the promise of America: the promise that every 
child--regardless of their skin color, their ethnicity, or the ZIP code 
they are born into--can rise to their highest station in life. We 
cemented our fundamental belief that, here in America, if you reach 
further and aim higher, anything is possible.
  I submit to my colleagues that the story of Judge Jackson is the 
story of our great Nation. Together with her impeccable credentials and 
evenhanded record, there was simply no reason to oppose the 
confirmation of such a talented, well-qualified, and fair-minded 
jurist. It is why I could not have been prouder to cast my vote, a vote 
on behalf of New Jerseyans everywhere, to elevate her to the highest 
Court in the land.
  Judge Jackson has lived a life in the mold of the great strivers in 
our history. Her nomination alone was a testament to the progress--
often deferred or denied--but nonetheless the progress we have achieved 
on our 246-year struggle for a more perfect union.
  I could not be prouder that we etched it into stone and confirmed her 
to the Court, proving to women and girls everywhere that, if they work 
hard and reach for the stars, they too can be one of the nine guardians 
entrusted by the Constitution to ensure equal justice under law for all 
people. As we celebrate this historic moment, consider the senior quote 
ascribed to Judge Jackson in her high school yearbook: ``I want to go 
into law and eventually have a judicial appointment.''
  As we stand here, after extending her the judicial appointment of all 
judicial appointments, it may seem predestined. It may have seemed like 
this day is the culmination of her destiny. But to hear Judge Jackson 
tell it herself, one realizes that, in fact, none of it was 
predetermined. None of it was fate. Simply put, it was the brilliance 
and grit of a young woman from South Florida--and the love of her 
family who surrounded her--that made this vote possible. As a student 
at Miami Palmetto Senior High School, Ms. Ketanji Brown was class 
president, chess club president, and a star on the powerhouse speech 
and debate team.
  Her parents, Ellery and Johnny Brown, were teachers who taught her 
the value of education as they rose to lead their peers as a principal 
and chief counsel for Miami-Dade County schools. In addition to public 
education, her family is steeped in a law enforcement background. Her 
younger brother worked in undercover drug stings for the Baltimore 
Police Department. One of her uncles was a detective attached to a sex 
crimes unit, while another uncle was Miami's chief of police.
  And yet it is the experience of seeing a third uncle, her Uncle 
Thomas, sentenced to life in prison for a nonviolent cocaine offense, 
that rounds out her early understanding of our criminal justice system. 
In 2005, Judge Jackson would eventually set in motion a chain of events 
that ended with President Obama commuting her uncle's sentence. But 
before that could happen, before she joined major law firms and the 
Federal public defender's office--before she served as Vice Chair of 
the U.S. Sentencing Commission and as a judge on the Federal bench--she 
was first a daughter, a sister, and a niece.
  And it is there, in the pages of Judge Jackson's story, as a product 
of public schools who saw our country's justice system up close, where 
we can find her judgment. It is there where we can find the reasons for 
my colleague, Senator Booker, to declare to her on national television: 
``You have earned this spot. You are worthy. You are a great 
American.''
  So much ink has been spilled about the historic nature of Judge 
Jackson's nomination and now confirmation. She stood before the Senate 
as a nominee descendant from slaves who grew up listening to her 
parents' stories of attending segregated schools, a nominee who was 
once told by a guidance counselor that she shouldn't set her sights so 
high when applying to Harvard; a nominee who not only graduated as the 
second generation in her family to earn a college degree but who 
silenced naysayers and doubters alike by graduating, with honors, from 
both Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
  Simply put, soon-to-be Justice Jackson belongs on the highest Court 
in the land. Her confirmation is a milestone in the grand tapestry of 
our country--not only because she has broken barriers as the first 
African-American woman and the first to have served as a public 
defender, but rather, it is because she is supremely qualified to 
interpret our Constitution and hear cases on their merit. When she is 
sworn in, Justice Jackson will have more experience as a trial court 
judge than any of her colleagues on the Court. In fact, she will be the 
second Justice ever to have experience at all three levels of our 
Federal judiciary. The first, a legal trailblazer in her own right, is 
Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
  It is therefore only fitting that, as I have thought about what this 
day means for our country, I am reminded of the parallels between this 
historic nomination and the historic nomination for Justice Sotomayor. 
Back then, in 2009, I said, ``when she takes her seat on the United 
States Supreme Court, we will only need to look at the portrait of the 
justices to see how far we've come as a nation, who we really are as a 
people, and what our founders intended us to be.''
  Those words have never rung more true. A woman who, when the 
Constitution was written, would have counted in the eyes of the law as 
three-fifths of her fellow Americans, will now carry out justice for 
every single citizen who calls this Nation home. In the midst of 
disgusting attacks, racial dog whistles turned into foghorns, and gross 
mischaracterizations of her record, Judge Jackson maintained a calm 
demeanor throughout her nomination with almost superhuman poise.
  For my colleagues who opposed her nomination today, yet voted to 
confirm her to the Sentencing Commission, the district court, and to 
the appeals court just last year, I leave them to iron out their double 
standards. But to all who rejoice in what is to come, when Judge 
Ketanji Brown Jackson will soon place her hand on the Bible and takes 
her solemn oath of office, I submit the following:

       More than ever before, the newest portrait of our nine 
     Supreme Court justices will more clearly reflect who we are 
     as a nation and what we stand for as a fair, just, and 
     hopeful people.

  Unlike other nations, those united by a singular history, language, 
and culture, this nation--our Nation--is united by our diversity. It is 
evident in our national motto--the one stamped on every coin in our 
pocket and etched on the ceiling of our Capitol dome, E pluribus Unum: 
out of many one. And it is despite these differences that our country 
comes together as a vast melting pot, one forged in common values and 
an ideal of freedom that stands as a beacon to the world.
  As Judge Jackson takes her rightful place on the Supreme Court, the 
full realization of that ideal is closer than it has ever been. I know 
this for I have lived it--as Judge Jackson has lived it--and I feel it, 
as so many others in this country have felt it. I stand here, the son 
of Cuban refugees, the first in my family to attend college, and now, 
in a nation of 330 million, as one of only 100 Members of the U.S. 
Senate.

[[Page S2086]]

  It is indeed possible, my colleagues, to make our ancestors' wildest 
dreams come true.
  And so, in closing, as I reflect on our vote earlier today, I can't 
help but feel joy for my three granddaughters: Evangelina, Ofelia, and 
Olivia. Granted, they are still young; my oldest is barely out of pre-
K. But each one of them will grow up knowing that, thanks to Justices 
like Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena 
Kagan, and now Ketanji Brown Jackson, there isn't a single thing they 
can't accomplish. Let their dreams be our dreams today. Let every child 
in America look at their parents the way that Judge Jackson's daughter 
looked at her during her confirmation hearing.
  Let there be no barriers to what is possible now that Judge Ketanji 
Brown Jackson has been confirmed to the Supreme Court.

                          ____________________