Historic Senate Vote Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
PRESS STATEMENT
04.07.22
Statement from Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights:
The Center for Reproductive Rights congratulates Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on her confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court and celebrates this historic step towards a Court that reflects the rich diversity of the American public. Justice Jackson, who is the first Black woman on the Court, has had a stellar career in law practice and on the bench, where she served for nearly a decade as both a trial and appellate judge. Her testimony at her confirmation hearing underscored her integrity, professional excellence, and commitment to equal justice under law.
Justice Jackson’s confirmation comes at a critical time for public trust in the Supreme Court. In the area of reproductive rights, the Court rightly has been criticized for decisions abandoning the rule of law. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, the Supreme Court repeatedly failed to block Texas’s blatantly unconstitutional ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, emboldening states across the country to pass copycat laws denying access to essential health care. In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the Texas law was designed “to nullify” the Court’s abortion rights decisions. In a later dissent, Justice Sonya Sotomayor called the case “a disaster for the rule of law.” Before the end of this term, the Court will issue a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which threatens Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of the constitutional right to abortion.
Roe v. Wade serves as the core foundation for robust protections for individual rights, including the rights to medical and other intimate decision-making, sexual rights, and the equal rights of same-sex couples to marry. These fundamental liberty protections ensure people are able to live their lives with autonomy, dignity, and equality. The Supreme Court has never taken away a fundamental right; to do so would be an abandonment of their obligation to enforce the Constitution and rule independent of politics and ideology. While Justice Jackson will join the bench after the Supreme Court rules in Dobbs, she will play a critical role in future cases interpreting that decision.
Every Supreme Court justice changes the Court. Today, we celebrate that Justice Jackson soon will be adding her own unique insights, legal expertise, and the weight of her presence to the Court’s deliberations and decisions.
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For more information about Justice Jackson’s record or her Senate confirmation hearings, please see:
- Web Story: What We Learned in Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing, 04.01.22
- Fact Sheet: What You Need to Know About the Historic Nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, 02.25.22
- Statement: Biden Nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court, 02.25.22
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