- [Reporter] President Biden has nominated
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
to the Supreme Court, - Good afternoon.
- the first black woman nominated to be a justice
on the nation's highest court.
If confirmed, she would replace Justice Stephen Breyer,
a liberal member of the court
who announced his retirement in January.
Judge Jackson served as a law clerk
to Justice Breyer earlier in her career.
- I've been a federal judge for eight years
and I have a duty of independence.
I clerked for three federal judges before I became a judge
and they were models of judicial independence,
and what that has meant is that I know very well
what my obligations are, what my duties are,
not to rule with partisan advantage in mind.
- What makes her a strong nominee, in part,
is that professional diversity.
This sort of allows Biden to fulfill a promise
that he's made to diversify the court,
not just by putting people in the court
who might have a different demographic background,
who might look different, but people who might also
just bring a different kind of experience.
Another thing that makes her a strong nominee
is that she was just recently confirmed to the DC Circuit,
and so it means that she's gone
through the Senate confirmation process.
- [Reporter] The president made his decision
after meeting with the candidates,
studying their histories and case records,
and consulting legal experts, the White House said.
- Although we have a pretty closely divided Senate,
we think she still probably has a pretty smooth path
to confirmation.
Vice President Harris casts the deciding vote
and gives Democrats the majority.
- [Reporter] Mr. Biden's nomination
won't change the balance of power
on a conservative high court,
that is six justices appointed by Republican presidents,
including three by former President Donald Trump.
Judge Jackson currently serves on the US Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit,
one of the nation's most influential courts
and often a stepping stone for Supreme Court justices.
She joined the court last June after spending eight years
as a federal trial judge in the nation's capital.
- So President Biden has promised
to diversify the federal judiciary
in terms of both demographic background
and professional diversity,
and Judge Jackson ticks both of those boxes.
She'll be the first black woman on the court
and she also brings a background as a criminal defender,
which we have not seen in many, many years.
- I would say that my different professional background
than many of the Court of Appeals judges,
including my District Court background,
which will be different, if I'm confirmed,
than many of my my colleagues, would bring value.
It's sort of like the Oliver Wendell Holmes quote,
that "The life of the law is not logic; it's experience."
And so I've experienced life in perhaps a different way
than some of my colleagues because of who I am,
and that might be valuable.
I hope it would be valuable if I was confirmed to the court.
- Republicans have tried to pin her down
on this question of the, quote-unquote, living Constitution,
the idea that constitutional interpretation
should adapt to social change, should evolve over time.
She had said in 2013 at a confirmation hearing
for the District Court that she disagreed with that.
But more recently,
at her Appeals Court confirmation hearing,
she really just declined to talk about it
and deferred to the Supreme Court.
- The Constitution is an enduring document.
It has, the Supreme Court has said, a fixed meaning,
that we are to look to the original words
in the Constitution and interpret,
as lower court judges, we interpret provisions
the way in which the Supreme Court does,
and they look at the text and meaning.
- Judge Jackson has not said very much
about what kind of a presence she will be on the court,
as is common with lower court judges.
We don't know very much about her judicial philosophy,
and when she was asked about it
at a recent confirmation hearing,
she really declined to talk very much about it
and deferred to the Supreme Court.
- I think that I would like to be remembered
as a judge who was both careful and thorough in my opinions.
- [Reporter] It remains unclear
exactly when Judge Jackson's confirmation hearings
will begin, but New York Senator Chuck Schumer
said they will take place in the coming weeks.