Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said Wednesday that Kamala Harris becoming the first black and South Asian woman to lock down the Democratic nod for president gives people “hope.”
Jackson, who became the first black female Supreme Court justice in 2022, explained that Harris’ ascension to vice president and now a White House candidate has made many Americans feel that there are more opportunities for minorities in the US.
“I know a little bit about being a first,” Jackson said on ABC News’ “The View” Wednesday. “I think a lot of people were very happy about my appointment, in part, because they saw it as progress for the country.”
“Whenever we see someone moving into a position where no one has ever been, it gives a lot of people hope.”
Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden had promised during the 2020 campaign that he’d tap a black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
He also pledged to name a woman as his VP.
Harris officially became the Democratic nominee for president during a virtual roll call last month and then formally accepted the candidacy during the party’s convention in Chicago.
She is the first black and South Asian female vice president in US history.
Supreme Court justices are generally expected to steer clear of politics, but Jackson kept her focus trained on Harris hitting the milestone as the Democratic nominee.
“I’m a first, not because I’m the first person who could ever do this job, right? But because our times have changed. Our society has changed,” Jackson went on.
The 53-year-old liberal justice has been on a media tour to promote her memoir “Lovely One,” which tells the story of her upbringing and how she ascended to the highest court in the land.
During her media itinerary, Jackson has carefully navigated politically charged questions about the Supreme Court.
“I am confident that the courts will faithfully uphold the law, because that is our duty,” she replied when asked if she had confidence in the Supreme Court’s ability to navigate potential 2024 election cases.
Jackson also waded in on controversy surrounding whether or not the Supreme Court should have a stricter ethical code.
Last year, the high court rolled out a non-binding ethics code, but critics have argued it should adopt something with more teeth to it.
“The question is, [how] is that going to play out? We’re still pretty early in the process,” Jackson maintained. “I guess I think about all of this as democracy at work, public engagement, these ideas of reforms, are the kinds of things that have been around since the beginning of our Republic.”
Last term, the Supreme Court’s most high profile case was its decision on former President Donald Trump’s request for absolute presidential immunity.
Ultimately, the high court concluded that presidents enjoy “absolute” immunity for official acts, but left key questions unanswered about the division between official and personal acts. It also remanded the challenge against Trump’s 2020 election supervision indictment back to the lower courts.
Jackson dissented in the immunity decision, which was handed down by the high court’s conservative majority.
“The majority instead decided that, no, we’re going to essentially create a new system for presidents, former presidents that is such that they are not subject to the law under certain circumstances,” she said.
“They are immune from even being asked about or prosecuted for certain criminal activity, and I just thought that seemed like it was inconsistent, at least, with my view of our constitutional norms.”
The Supreme Court’s next term is slated to commence in October.
