AAPI leaders applaud Senate confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to SCOTUS

SCREEN CAPTURE / MSNBC

President Biden and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson watched the Senate vote from the White House.

UPDATED: 12:40 P.M. PDT, April 8, to include remarks from Friday media event.

In a historic vote Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Jackson will officially be sworn in later this summer when Justice Stephen Bryer retires. She will be the first Black woman to be on the Supreme Court bench.

Most leaders in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities backed President Biden's nominee to the Supreme Court calling the Senate vote "a significant moment in our nation’s history and an affirmation of our nation’s commitment to equal justice under law," said John C. Yang, president the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - AAJC.

The Senate vote, 53-47, mostly along party lines. Three Republicans -- New Hampshire's Susan Collins, Alaska Lisa Murkowski and Utah's Mitt Romney -- went against the GOP radical conservatives and Trump syncophants to vote with the Democrats.

“With her historic confirmation, Judge Jackson becomes the first Black woman and second woman of color to serve on the nation’s highest court, a long overdue step towards an inclusive justice system that reflects the diversity of America," says Yang. The other jurist of color is Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a Latina. 

Jackson is "a brilliant legal scholar and consensus builder, Judge Jackson brings a diverse legal perspective to the Court," says A.B. Cruz III, acting president of NAPAB the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

“We thank President Biden for his commitment to diversifying our judiciary. Notably, women and persons of color, including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, continue to be underrepresented on our courts.”

"Judge Jackson is a brilliant legal mind with a deep knowledge of the law. She has a judicial temperament that is calm and in command — and a humility that allows so many Americans to see themselves in her," Biden said after the Senate vote.

“I am feeling up to the task, primarily because I know that I am not alone. I am standing on the shoulders of my own role models, generations of Americans who never had anything close to this kind of opportunity, but who got up every day and went to work believing in the promise of America,” said Judge Jackson during remarks at the White House on Friday.

“I am also ever buoyed by the leadership of generations past who helped to light the way. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Justice Thurgood Marshall, and my personal heroine, Judge Constance Baker Motley,” Jackson said. “They and so many others did the heavy lifting that made this day possible. ... I think of them as the true path-breakers,” she said, occasionally pausing to contain her emotions.

At the same media event on the White House lawn, Vice President Kamala Harris, who created history of her own as the first Asian and first Black Vice President, said: 

"In the years to come, the court will answer fundamental questions about who we are and what kind of country we live in. Will we expand opportunity or restrict it? Will we strengthen the foundations of our great democracy? Or let them crumble? Will we move forward or backward? The young leaders of our nation will learn from the experience, the judgment, the wisdom that you, Judge Jackson, will apply in every case that comes before you."

Judge Jackson is one of the most experienced and qualified nominees to the Supreme Court.

“Judge Jackson is a brilliant jurist who brings the depth and breadth of her experience, including becoming the first former public defender, to serve on the Supreme Court," says Yang. 

After graduating from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, she began her legal career as a clerk for retiring Supreme Court Justice Breyer. In her decades of legal experience, Judge Jackson has served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, as a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and most recently as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. 

When Vice President Kamala Harris announced the vote, the usually staid Senate broke out in a standing ovation. Except for Romney who joined the applause by the Democrats, underlining the political partisanship marring Congress, the rest of the  Republicans walked out of the chamber. 

"As the first Black woman and first public defender to serve in this role, Justice Jackson embodies the values of democracy and equality that we hold most dear in America," said Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congressional APA Caucus. "I have long believed that our country’s judicial system should look like the people it serves. When Justice Jackson takes her seat, the Court will, for the very first time, have four women and three people of color serving on the bench."

David Inoue, executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, said this of Judge Jackson’s confirmation:

“The appointment of Justice Jackson is a long overdue step forward for our country. The Supreme Court has for over 233 years lacked the full life experience that Justice Jackson will bring as a public defender and particularly as a black woman. Too often, we have seen the court disregard or diminish the rights of minorities. We look forward to Justice Jackson ensuring one more minority perspective is represented on the court.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.