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Emil Guillermo: For Ketanji Brown Jackson, the path to justice was undeniable
Of course, Bucha and the atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine must hold the focus of the free world. We can only interrupt our attention on life and death history with even more history.
And so we do, to cheer a momentous breakthrough for democracy in America.
Ketanji Brown Jackson is the new 116th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
By a 53-47 vote, the high-water mark of bipartisanship in our dismally divided country, Jackson has been confirmed by the Senate and will take Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat upon his retirement this June.
Before the vote, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.) set the scene.
Of 115 who served on the court, there have been just five women, two Blacks, and no Black women, said Leahy.
Those facts have helped to define the privilege of white supremacy in America.
No one has looked like Ketanji Brown Jackson. Not in the institution of the Supreme Court of the United States. Not until April 7, 2022.
But it’s not just about her race or ethnicity. Leahy emphasized that Jackson was more than well-qualified; she “earned” the right to be on the Supreme Court.
Durbin added more historical context. When the Supreme Court first met in the Capitol in 1801, there were one million slaves in a nation of five million people. And neither blacks nor white women had a constitutional right to vote. Black women had no place in the court, and could only come in at night to clean, he said.
Let me add our context too. At the time, there were notably Filipinos in Louisiana, but there was no Asian America to speak of.
Durbin then briefly touched on the evolution of America, from the bloody civil war to the decades-long efforts to break down racial barriers.
“We are beginning to write another chapter in our nation’s quest for equal justice under the law,” said Durbin. “And that chapter begins with three letters, KBJ, with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the highest court in the land.”
Durbin then recalled how this week, 54 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis. And then he quoted from King’s speech at the Mason Temple: “I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”
And now, in a way we have. The KBJ era has begun.
For history, most of the Senate was gathered at their desk for the roll call vote that teeter-tottered back and forth. Fortunately, the votes were already known. Deadlocked at 50-50, three Republicans, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and Susan Collins (R-Maine), had announced their decisions to vote for KBJ, for history, for justice. And they came through. They didn’t join Republican partisans like Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz, and Tom Cotton, who treated the confirmation process as if it were a hazing to an all-white men’s club.
They questioned her for 24 hours, in Senate Judiciary hearings that seemed more like an interrogation process. Republican Senators, auditioning to be the next Trump, hammered away on KBJ. But the best they could do was bring up her sentencing on child pornography cases, as if that made her soft on crime? A nominee supported by national police organizations representing both chiefs and the rank-in-file is not soft on crime.
But they kept it up right until this week. Sen Tom Cotton, touching on the Ukrainian situation, said Jackson might have defended Nazis accused of war crimes. Is that not the height of smears? But that is the rhetoric of white supremacists losing their grip.
Even on the floor of the Senate, when Democrats had gotten to the vote, Republicans couldn’t stand it. Graham cast his “No” vote from the cloak room. He had previously voted for KBJ when she was up for confirmation. Not this time. His fellow South Carolinian, Tim Scott, an African American, also stuck with Republicans and voted against Jackson. Kentucky’s Rand Paul made a scene, coming late to delay the confirmation as much as possible. Dressed informally, he cast the 47th “No.”
One last rude and immature strike at the woman they must now call Justice Jackson.
KBJ’s ascent means one thing to AAPIs.
Next vacancy. We got next. And then the court will have the look it needs to embody equal justice under the law.
From KBJ, the first Black female, we should expect an AAPI male or female, don’t you think?
That would make it the most diverse court in SCOTUS history. And then it really will be a court that looks like America.
We’ve been waiting.
See my other columns on KBJ:
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NOTE: I’ll talk about these items and more, on “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” the microtalk show of the AAPI, at 2p Pacific on Facebook, on my YouTube Channel, and on Twitter. Catch the recordings on www.amok.com.
Emil Guillermo is an independent journalist/commentator. Updates at www.amok.com. Follow Emil on Twitter, and like his Facebook page.
The views expressed in his blog do not necessarily represent AALDEF’s views or policies.
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