Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed by the US Senate as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Her confirmation is a milestone for the United States and a victory for President Joe Biden, who is seeking to infuse the federal judiciary with a broader range of backgrounds.
The vote to confirm the 51-year-old federal appellate judge to a lifetime job on the nation’s top judicial body was 53-47, with three Republicans — Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney — joining Mr Biden’s fellow Democrats.
A simple majority was needed as Ms Jackson overcame Republican opposition in a Supreme Court confirmation process that remains fiercely partisan.
Ms Jackson will take her seat when Justice Stephen Breyer retires in June, solidifying the liberal wing of a court dominated 6-3 by conservatives.
She joined Mr Biden at the White House to watch the vote, embracing him as it came in.
Ms Jackson served early in her career as a Supreme Court clerk for the 83-year-old Mr Breyer.
Democrat Raphael Warnock, one of the Senate’s three Black members, said in debate before the vote: “I’m the father of a young Black girl. I know how much it means for Judge Jackson to have navigated the double jeopardy of racism and sexism to now stand in the glory of this moment.
Of the 115 people who have served on the Supreme Court since its 1789 founding, all but three have been white.
It has had two Black justices, both men: Clarence Thomas, appointed in 1991 and still serving, and Thurgood Marshall, who retired in 1991 and died in 1993.
Current Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the only Hispanic ever to serve.
Ms Jackson will become the sixth woman justice ever. For the first time, four women justices will be serving together.
‘The finest and brightest and the best’
Presidential nominations to the Supreme Court have become a flashpoint in American politics.
The court wields great influence in shaping American policy on hot-button issues including abortion, guns, voting laws, LGBT rights, religious liberty, the death penalty and race-based practices.
Before Ms Jackson joins it, the Supreme Court is due to rule in major cases including one that could overturn the landmark 1973 decision that legalised abortion nationwide and another that could expand gun rights.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican, criticised Ms Jackson in the debate before the vote, calling her the choice of the “radical left” and saying her “disturbing” judicial record included injecting personal policy biases in rulings and treating convicted criminals as gently as possible in sentencing.
Vice-President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to hold that post, presided over the vote.
Afterwards, Ms Harris told reporters Ms Jackson’s confirmation “makes a very important statement about who we aspire to be” as a nation and that there will be “full representation and the finest and brightest and the best” on the Supreme Court.
The White House said Ms Jackson and Mr Biden will make remarks on Friday at an event celebrating her confirmation.
