Mr Chairman, ranking member members of the Judiciary Committee. Thank
you for the distinct honor of appearing before you today.
Just a few weeks from now. I will marry my beloved fiancee, Anna.
And today I get to testify in support of the nomination of my lifelong
friend, Judge Lattanzi Brown Jackson to be on the Supreme Court,
so I feel especially blessed these days.
And get well soon. Dad, I love you.
Senators. I have known Tangie Brown Jackson for nearly 38 years.
We first met in 1984 as students in our public junior high school
in Miami, Florida.
I was 12 years old back then, and Catania was 14.
We were friends back then right away. And now, 38 years later, we
still remain dear friends.
From the very first day I met Catania. I knew she was special.
In my entire life. I have never met anyone like her.
In junior high and then again at our large public high school, Catania
was seemingly everywhere and everything.
The president of the student body.
The upbeat voice delivering the morning announcements over the schools
public address system, The graduating senior voted most likely to
succeed
and in our speech and debate program, she was literally the national
champion in her event.
Through it all. She was the one student who stood out as universally
loved and admired by everyone her fellow students, teachers and administrators
alike.
Catania incandescent brilliance was obvious to all of us from day
one.
But even more importantly, she has always been one of the kindest,
warmest, most humble and down to earth. People I have ever met.
All this while still possessing boundless charisma, drive maturity
and grace.
For all these remarkable characteristics to somehow reside in the
same one person. Well, I suppose you can understand why everyone
who knows Catan she believed she was destined for greatness.
I could go on and on describing changes, amazing qualities, but instead
let me relate to stories from our high school days.
First, Catania wasn't just a supernova national champion from our
debate squad, though, of course she was. She was also the unofficial
leader of our tight knit debate family.
Acting basically as a student coach and mentor for all the younger
students.
Outside in the grassy area between the school's hallways. We would
sit cross legged on the ground, all of us in rapt attention, while
Catania would stand and explain to us the keys to success, in particular
the need for preparation.
Poise, discipline and above all, hard work.
She was a born leader.
No matter how high she would climb, she would she always through
ladders down to the rest of us and encouraged us and helped us on
our upward climb to the best of our abilities.
In 1998 for just a few weeks, Katanga's path and my path.
Overlapped again as we both served as law clerks for judge is on
the same court, the U. S Court of Appeals for the first circuit.
She was finishing up her one year appellate clerkship and I was just
beginning mine.
For those few weeks, I confess that I felt a surge of excitement
and satisfaction because I had actually accomplished something that
Catania had accomplished.
But for her part, Catania has never been about comparing herself
to anybody else's accomplishments. She's simply sets her own goals
and then works tirelessly to achieve them.
In the nearly 40 years that I've known Canton. Gee, I can't remember
ever hearing her say an unkind word to anybody.
Or even an unkind word about anybody.
That's just not her nature.
And it's not how her amazing parents, Mr Brown and Mrs Brown raised
her
That leads me to my second story about high school. It was the fall
of 1987. I was a sophomore in Catania was a senior in our Latin American
history class. I sat in the seat next to hers, but on this particular
day that her chair was empty.
But just then the school principal came on the P a system and announced
that a handful of our senior class had been accepted to Harvard College
that day, a huge achievement for our large and often underfunded
public high school.
As fate would have it at that very moment that the principal announced
Katanga's name Tangie happened to open the door and walk in the classroom.
The entire classroom immediately leapt to its feet, exploded in applause
and ran over to Cassandra to embrace her. It was one of the most
genuine, heartwarming moments I have ever seen.
Every student was so happy for Catania and so proud of her accomplishment.
Nobody was jealous. Nobody was resentful, and nobody was at all surprised
because she was Catania.
And now, some four decades later, the president of the United States
has nominated Catania to be a Supreme Court justice. It seems fitting
After all, this is what great Americans are supposed to do.
They're supposed to achieve great things. And Catania Brown Jackson
is a great American. Personally, I feel blessed to have been born
in a country that can produce such an extraordinary person.
My parents of blessed memory where Jews who escaped persecution in
Nazi Germany.
And they along with my dear parents always reiterated to me and my
siblings. What an amazing country. This is because in America, anybody
can succeed, no matter who they are, what they look like or where
they come from.
My grandparents and my parents were right.
In America, a great person like the honorable Tangie Brown Jackson
can indeed succeed and can ascend to positions of great trust and
great responsibility. Members of the Senate by confirming this extraordinary
woman to a seat on the Supreme Court.
You will honor everything that is good and right about America.
For the good of our country and for the good in our country. I hope
that you will