On Thursday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the next U.S. Supreme Court justice. The April 7 vote fell closely along party lines, with all 50 of the Senate Democrats and only three Republicans voting to confirm her for a 53-47 majority.
Jackson will replace Justice Stephen Breyer who has sat on the Supreme Court since 1993 and announced plans to retire earlier this year once the court takes its summer recess, typically around June or July.
Her confirmation marks several historic firsts. Jackson will be the first Black woman and the first public defender to ever sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
She brings extensive experience as a judge and attorney. The Harvard Law Graduate has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since 2021 and first joined the bench in 2013 when nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Jackson has a background in private practice as well as the public sector, having worked as a federal public defender in Washington D.C. From 2003 through 2014, Jackson was on the United States Sentencing Commission, first as special counsel and then as vice chair. From 1999 through 2000, Jackson clerked for Justice Breyer. Pres. Joe Biden nominated Jackson in February.
Jackson’s confirmation came after four days of hearings in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee starting on March 21 and a split vote earlier this week to advance her nomination. Most criticism leveled at Jackson centered around sentencing decisions while she was a district judge, which some Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said showed a “soft on crime” record. Some critics on the committee accused her of being a “radical leftist” and hypothesized that she would use the position to legislate from the bench.
Recent Supreme Court confirmation votes have fallen distinctly along party lines in recent years, making Jackson’s Senate confirmation in line with recent votes. While the majority was slim, Jackson’s vote is the largest majority since 2017, when Justice Neil Gorsuch was also confirmed with 53 votes.
See how the latest vote measures up to the court’s five most recent justices:
