The Votes Are in and It’s ‘Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Ketanji Brown Jackson’ Now

Ketanji Brown Jackson has been officially confirmed to the Supreme Court after a final vote Thursday afternoon. In the end, the final tally was 53-47, with three Republicans (Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Mitt Romney) joining all 50 Democrats voting to confirm. (That was after Rand Paul made everyone wait for his “no” vote after being about 20 minutes late to cast it.)

This is a historic event, with Jackson becoming the first Black woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court. She’ll also be the first former public defender on the court. So while many have pointed out that her confirmation won’t change the overall makeup of the court (she’s a liberal justice replacing a liberal justice), it’s undeniable that she will be bringing a unique and necessary perspective with her.

Jackson won’t take her seat on the bench right away. Her confirmation moved incredibly quickly (although not as quickly as Amy Coney Barrett’s rushed sham of a confirmation) but she is not set to be sworn in until Stephen Breyer officially retires this summer.

What an incredibly momentous day.

Update: An earlier version of this article said the vote happened Wednesday afternoon, and that’s just because no one ever knows what day it is anymore. We regret the error.

(image: Kevin Lamarque-Pool/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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