Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson stood her ground amid unprincipled attacks

We have been honored to witness the strength and integrity of an African American woman, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has now been confirmed as President Joe Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Indeed, she was nominated by the president, but she was our nominee, the people’s choice. We at the Urban League of NWI are not just proud but gratified, knowing she will express the will of the people through the careful and methodical decisions she will make in the coming years.

We want to congratulate her on her many accomplishments while on the bench. But just as important we also know that few could have withstood the trial by fire she endured — the ugly innuendo, the misrepresentation of her judicial record and attempts to portray her in a light that surpassed the unseemly and bordered on the fanatic.

The racist diatribe that Republicans engaged in was unprecedented. And yet Ketanji Brown Jackson held her own; she did not flinch or waver. She stood as testament to the heroines of the past like Rosa Parks and those of today like Stacey Abrams. Like the millions of African American women who came before her, she was a woman who knew her purpose and could not, would not, like that “tree in the water” be moved. As hard as they tried to cause her to lose her footing, she stood her ground. Perhaps this accounts for the barrage of unprincipled attacks on her. But none of that worked.

She is ours today; she will sit on the bench of the United States Supreme Court and will represent us well. As Judge Brown Jackson said in her opening statement,

”I stand on the shoulders of many who have come before me, including Judge Constance Baker Motley, who was the first African American woman to be appointed to the federal bench and with whom I share a birthday. And like Judge Motley, I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court building — “Equal Justice Under Law” — are a reality and not just an ideal.”

JOSE LUIS MAGANA / AP People celebrate the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to reach the Supreme Court, during a rally outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington on Friday.