Ketanji Brown Jackson (2016-2022) Headshots and cocktail hour with overseers at Loeb House at Harvard University. Rose Lincoln/Harvard Staff Photographer
In the 233-year history of the Supreme Court, there have been many “firsts” that must be acknowledged. However, throughout the Supreme Court’s history there has never been a Black woman even nominated to sit on the highest court of the land until this past week. The establishment of a Federal Judiciary was a high priority of the new and emergent government of the United States of America and the first bill introduced in the Senate became the Judiciary Act of 1789.
Throughout the decades, the court has evolved and changed in its composition from originally being comprised of a Chief Justice and five Associate Justices for the first 101 years of the court, to its current number of nine, including eight Associate Justices and the Chief Justice. Today the court has three women and six men. There are five white men, one Black man, two white women, and one Latina currently seated. Of the nine justices, seven are white and two are people of color. No Black women have ever been considered for an appointment to the Supreme Court in its two-hundred- and thirty-three-year history. When President Joe Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson on last Friday he made an historic nomination, and a seismic impact on the history of the nation’s highest judicial body.
Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson has impeccable credentials, and one might plausibly argue that she also has a more substantial judicial record, education, and qualifications than several of the currently seated Justices on the court. The well-known saying within the Black community comes to mind here; “We (Black folks) always have to be twice as good to get half as much…” even when competing with mediocre candidates who happen to have white skin. We know that Judge Brown-Jackson is MORE than qualified for the position to which she has been nominated. But like “clockwork” we are beginning to hear the racist, sexist, and partisan noise that would call into question this nomination based on buzz words and catch phrases like “affirmative action appointment”, or “What about the qualified white candidates?” or even more incredulous, “What about all the qualified white men?” Even this “classic” (not even within the realm of reality trope) “This is racism!” or even worse “It’s reverse racism!” It would be humorous if it wasn’t so pathetic and blatantly oblivious.
These strategic attacks are so weak and historically predictable that they truly test our patience and challenge our ability to continue to take them seriously. But we must press forward and meet these challenges each time they surface no matter how long it takes or how many times, we MUST repeat ourselves. We must pay attention to each challenge to Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson’s qualifications, integrity, experience, and personhood as she goes through the rigor of the Senate hearings towards vetting her as the President’s historic appointment to the Supreme Court.
It must be noted that in the Supreme Court’s storied history there have been 114 white men and only 3 white women, 2 Black men, and one Latina. The court has been ruled by white men for the entirety of its history. The United States of America continues to evolve as a multiracial democracy and as the nation’s highest judicial body; it is long past time for the Supreme Court to move towards being more representative of the nation it presides over. We should all tune in to the confirmation hearings for Judge Brown-Jackson. What will be fully on display is the “content of the character” of the United States of America. Your 
Senators will be posing questions, which the Judge will handle with grace and an unquestioned integrity. Despite that fact, what we will see on display during these confirmation hearings and all the media fervor surrounding them, is a demonstration of the full-blown misogyny, sexism, racism, and outright disrespect that Black women who are highly qualified, extremely credentialed, hyper intelligent and very articulate deal with daily in every sector of American life, work, and existence.
So, buckle up! As we enter Women’s History Month this will most definitely be a wild and interesting ride into a new chapter of American History. Stay tuned!
