Ketanji Brown Jackson today: Judge says ‘we’ve made it’ as Biden slams GOP ‘verbal abuse’ during hearing

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered a stirring speech connecting her historic confirmation as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court to many Black Americans’ origin in the United States with a simple phrase: “We’ve made it.”

Eric Garcia reports from Washington, DC.

“Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave,” says Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“In my family it took just one generation from segregation to the Supreme Court.”

Per a White House official, Ketanji Brown Jackson will remain on the appeals court until she’s sworn in at the Supreme Court this June or July.

The official adds: “Judge Jackson will continue to recuse from all cases on the DC Circuit as she has since the President nominated her.”

“It is the greatest honor of my life to be standing here with you in this moment,” Judge Jackson tells President Joe Biden.

“It is hard to find the words to express the depth of my gratitude … I have come this far by faith and I know I am truly blessed.”

“I have to give thanks to God for delivering me as promised and for sustaining me throughout this nomination and confirmation process,” she said.

Judge Jackson also thanked Vice President Kamala Harris for her “wise counsel and steady guidance.”

She later said: “I have dedicated my career to public service because I love this country and our constitution and the rights that make us free.”

“I am honoured and humbled to continue working in this fashion as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.”

Andrew Feinberg reports from the South Lawn of the White House.

“I want to thank three Republicans who voted for Judge Jackson… They deserve enormous credit for setting aside partisanship.”

He says he doesn’t want to get Senators Romney, Collins and Murkowski in trouble with Republicans, but heaps praise on them.

“This is not only a sunny day. This is going to let so much sun shine on so many young women,” President Joe Biden says. “We’re gonna look back and see this as a moment of real change in American history.”

“A brilliant legal mind with deep knowledge of the law … A humility that allows so many Americans to see themselves in Ketanji Brown Jackson.”

“We all saw the kind of justice she’ll be — fair and impartial, thoughtful, careful, precise, brilliant,” the president says. “When I decided to run, this was one of the first decisions I made it. I could see it, I could see it as a day of hope, a day of promise, a day of progress.”

Mr Biden went on to describe her confirmation process as filled with “verbal abuse,” “anger”, “the most vile baseless accusations”, and “constant interruptions”, but says that she met the moment with poise, patience, restraint, perseverance, “and even joy”.