Today, President Biden will announce the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, Judge Jackson will be the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. In response to the nomination announcement, Earthjustice Senior Vice President of Programs Sam Sankar issued the following statement:

“With this historic nomination, President Biden is making a bold statement that our courts matter, and that they must represent the diversity of our country. Judge Jackson has the legal expertise and judicial temperament we need in a Supreme Court Justice, along with the personal and professional experience that will help her uphold the law with empathy, fairness, and equality. Judge Jackson has a sterling record as a fair, impartial jurist during her more than eight years on the federal bench and demonstrates a strong commitment to administrative and constitutional law. Her years of experience representing the most vulnerable as a public defender and working to address disparities in federal criminal sentencing on the U.S. Sentencing Commission will be a welcome addition to the court.

“This nomination comes at a critical time. The Supreme Court’s new Conservative supermajority is on the precipice of overturning decades of long-settled precedents in a way that furthers a political agenda at the expense of basic rights and protections. We need fair-minded Justices who decide cases based on facts, science, and settled law, and who understand the Court’s proper place in our system of government. If you care about safeguarding clean air and water, protecting our wild places and wildlife, and making sure that Congress and the President have the authority to combat climate change and protect public health, you must care about this nomination and the integrity of our federal courts.

“We are confident that Judge Jackson will bring a much-needed perspective to one of our democracy’s most critical institutions. The Senate must act to confirm Judge Jackson as swiftly as possible.”