WASHINGTON (AP) — “On this vote, the yeas are 53, the nays are 47, and this nomination is confirmed,” Vice President Kamala Harris said from her chair presiding over the Senate. Then, she smiled.
And with that, the nation’s first female and first Black vice president announced the confirmation of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Ketanji Brown Jackson will join the high court following Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement this summer.
Cheers broke out in the Senate chamber. At the White House, Jackson and President Joe Biden embraced.
Reaction to Jackson’s confirmation was jubilant from many corners, and the word “historic” was repeated again and again. Others, including Republican lawmakers who voted overwhelmingly against her, kept up their criticism of her record, calling her an activist judge.
At Howard University’s law school, students watching the vote live on television listened raptly from a conference room of Houston Hall, the main academic building. The students at the historically Black school broke into applause when the vote was announced by Harris, who attended Howard as an undergraduate and is also the first person of South Asian descent to be vice president.
“We have a dark-skinned, Black woman on the Supreme Court with locks and she’s going to be looking for clerks,” said first year student Jasmine Marchbanks-Owens, 27, referring to the young lawyers who spend a year helping Supreme Court justices with their work.
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were among those celebrating. “Like so many of you, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride — a sense of joy — to know that this deserving, accomplished Black woman will be a part of the highest court in the land,” the former first lady wrote on Twitter.
“This is a great day for America, and a proud moment in our history,” her husband wrote.
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate’s no. 2 Democrat, said in a statement it was “History…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Yahoo News – Latest News & Headlines…