Washington, July 1 (Bureau) Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first Black woman justice of the US Supreme Court, at a time when its conservative majority has been flexing its muscles in major rulings, Khaleej Times reported on Friday.Jackson, 51, joins the liberal bloc of a court which has a 6-3 conservative majority. She was sworn in as President Joe Biden’s replacement for retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer which came just six days after the court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade landmark that legalized abortion nationwide. Breyer, at 83 the court’s oldest member, officially retired on Thursday. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found that a majority of Americans – 57 per cent – holds a negative view of the court following the abortion ruling, a significant shift from earlier in the month when a narrow majority held a positive view.
Jackson is the 116th justice, sixth woman and overall just the third Black person to serve on the Supreme Court since its founding in 1789. Biden appointed Jackson last year to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after she spent eight years as a federal district judge. At the time of the ceremony, Biden was flying back to Washington from a NATO summit in Madrid. Like the three conservative justices appointed by the Democratic president’s Republican predecessor Donald Trump, Jackson is young enough to serve for decades in the lifetime job. The Senate confirmed Jackson on a 53-47 vote on April 7, with three Republicans joining the Democrats in support of her. However, Jackson’s appointment does not shift the court’s ideological balance.