On February 25, 2022, President Joe Biden announced his top candidate to take the Supreme Court seat left empty by Justice Breyer. Currently serving in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. district, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson had the incredible honor of accepting this nomination and making her mark on history as the first black woman to take this role. Judge Jackson has an overwhelming amount of credibility and deserves to tackle this powerful job. She is commendable for graduating summa cum laude from Harvard University, attending both undergraduate and law school, along with receiving her bachelor’s degree in government. 

Many people claim that Judge Jackson was solely picked by the president because she fit the promise that he made as part of his campaign, which was to enforce a more diverse Supreme Court concerning ethnicity and political beliefs. They might claim that this is the only benefit to her joining the Supreme Court, however, this could not be more false. 

Judge Jackson has proven to make herself useful, as an article from Smithsonian Magazine mentions how, “her time as assistant special counsel to the US Sentencing Commission and the lawyer’s own unique life experience would give Jackson a particular expertise on issues of criminal justice reform.” It is evident that she will use these previous opportunities as part of improving the job, and President Biden made sure that he would not award this distinguished undertaking to just anyone. Additionally, Judge Jackson has experience working under renowned advisors, as CNN mentions that “Jackson clerked for Breyer during the 1999 term after serving as a clerk in 1997-1998 to Judge Bruce M. Selya, a federal judge in Massachusetts.” To argue that she has no place in a Supreme Court seat is simply illogical. 

Furthermore, there have been several snide remarks made against Judge Jackson, claiming that she is “too left-leaning” and will therefore skew the current political standpoint. However, a Washington Post article pointed out that,  “…the Supreme Court will soon operate with a stout 6-3 conservative majority, rather than with the slimmer 5-4 conservative majority it has recently had” after the election of Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. The replacement of Judge Jackson will even the playing ground and allow for a relatively unbiased court. 

Similarly, an additional CNN op-ed furthers this idea by critically pointing out that the current Supreme Court “is the most right-wing it has been in a century” with most of the judges identifying as Republicans. If anything, our nation’s newest nominee will bring a helpful perspective to balance out the dominance of conservative values. This is crucial, considering that the U.S. is closest to an impartial country when it is being observed from a range of perspectives.

No matter which nominee President Biden would have chosen, no judge has beliefs that satisfy the entire nation. Regardless of this, Judge Jackson is incredibly deserving of this role, as she has years of experience and education along with offering a balanced point-of-view to the Supreme Court. It is significant that our country is advised under a reliable set of judges, and Kentaji Brown Jackson is yet another step forward in achieving this goal.