UPDATE: US appeals court Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson has been nominated to the Supreme court, the White House said on Friday. She will be the first Black woman to sit in the country's highest court, after President Joe Biden kept his promise to make the historic decision.
Biden said Jackson is a proven consensus builder who has a pragmatic understanding that the law must work for the American people." "She strives to be fair, to get it right, to do justice," Biden said.
Original Story:
Donald Trump has lost his latest legal battle seeking to block information from the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Among the three judges, to rule against Trump, was Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is being speculated to be one of the top candidates to fill a potential Supreme Court vacancy, especially since President Joe Biden had pledged to nominate a Black woman to the top court during his campaign in 2020.
Jackson, 41, who was appointed as appeals judge by Biden in 2020, along with two other judges – Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins, on Thursday, ruled that Trump has no legal recourse to withhold the documents sought by the committee to investigate the Capitol attack.
The committee investigating the riot was shown text messages and emails that made it evident Donald Trump was "exchanging with a wide range of individuals while the attack was underway," according to a source with knowledge of the communications, reports CNN. The texts were made available by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Jackson has made several rulings against Trump in the appeals court in the past. This is being said to be her biggest ruling so far.
"Judge Jackson's role in the executive privilege fight will no doubt play a prominent spot in a nomination hearing if, as anticipated, she is ultimately selected as the next nominee for the Supreme Court by President Biden," national security law expert Bradley Moss reportedly told The Hill, as per Newsweek.
Jackson is a graduate of Harvard Law School and was appointed to the US sentencing commission in 2009. She was appointed to the US district court in 2012 by Obama and is known to be a democratic staple. She has also been Vice-Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014 and had started her career with three clerkships, including one with Stephen Breyer, who is currently holding the Supreme Court position Jackson is expected to fill if the former retires during Biden's term.
If appointed to the top court, she would be the second-youngest justice after the 49-year-old Amy Coney Barrett.
