Scales of justice
I am pleased write tonight the Supreme Court has a new justice. Congratulations, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Her elevation is exciting as she is the first black woman in the judicial branch, she finally got the job after being nominated four times, #fortitude and I am excited to have another woman on the Court. I remember in fourth grade, I had to present clues on a famous person; it couldn’t be too obvious but we had to keep it real and not have our parents throw in random-big-worded facts to stump our friends. I was given Sandra Day O’Connor to research. I don’t remember the clues I gave my class, but I am happy to have another successful woman to further research. And I think my friend, Patty, guessed my person.
My mom has always told me that my maternal great grandmother, Aida Bartsch, passionately campaigned in the 1910s for women to have the right to vote. She was a first-generation American, business-savvy matriarch, a young woman married to a German-immigrant engineer and entrepreneur. She wanted to have her say. She fought for it. Tonight I toast my mom’s Nana, and how far we’ve come. Prost!
The photo that lit up my heart the most from Judge Brown’s confirmation hearings was that of her testifying and the smile on her beautiful daughter’s face, looking on as her mother was being interviewed on the highest stage. There are now four women, of which one is Black and one Latina, on the High Court. Great news.
But as NY Times reporter Adam Liptak says, “That new tableau on the court’s grand mahogany bench will mask a simple truth: The new justice will do nothing to alter the basic dynamic on a court dominated by six Republican appointees.
However collegial she may be, whatever her reputation as a ‘consensus builder’ and whether her voting record will be slightly to the right or the left of Justice Breyer’s, the court’s lopsided conservative majority will remain in charge. Judge Jackson will most likely find herself, as Justice Breyer has, in dissent in the court’s major cases on highly charged social questions.” It’s sad to me only three Republican Senators voted for her.
Perhaps this new addition to the Court will keep me more interested in the cases presented it hears.
In any event, it’s a good night for the person that has to clean the glass from the broken ceiling :)
