Last Friday, February 25th, 2022, was a historic day for President Biden: His Supreme Court pick, Ketanji Brown Jackson, has begun preparing for a high-stakes confirmation battle to become the first Black woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court. The process of officially nominating her to the Court began over the weekend, and will continue into March with a Senate vote.

Biden has sparked controversy selecting Jackson to sit on the court, as he already claimed he was only looking at potential nominees that were Black women. A resounding study from ABC News found that 76% of Americans wanted Biden to consider all possible nominees for the court, while others felt like a push for diversity was important. CHS students have opposing views on this choice.

Keaton Bunker is a junior at CHS, who believes Biden’s decision on picking Jackson would better benefit the people of the United States by diversifying the court.
“It’s an important time, and I know that Biden looked for a Justice who Republicans would be happy with, and Jackson is already extremely qualified,” Bunker said. “This is a big step for unity in the country that we’ve been looking for.”

Meanwhile, senior Laila Alkhouri believes the President should strive to have looked at all aspects based on the content of their character and qualifications.
“I do think that diversity is needed, especially with all women in our society,” Alkhouri said. “It brings different perspectives to the court, but I do always think that it’s best to nominate people who you think can get the job done, and that Biden should look at every nominee in that sense. I’m sure she is qualified, but I do think that it’s important that everyone is given the chance to be nominated for the content of their character, no matter the color of their skin.”

Biden’s chosen nominee is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She was on former President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court shortlist in 2016, but never made the cut. In 1988 of her high school senior year, Jackson wrote that she wanted to be a judge in a friend’s yearbook. Never did she expect to serve on the highest court in the United States.

Yet, despite those long-ago thoughts, her presence will elicit change. “On the court and in the future, I want to see newer and more modern interpretations of the Constitution are needed in the world we live in today,” Bunker said. “We live off old principles in society that need to be renewed and changed. That’s something I am excited to see.”

Meanwhile, Alkhouri holds a separate opinion. “In our society, there is a lot of political divide,” Alkhouri said. “I want to see an impartial justice on the court, who can do their job and do their best in helping the people as a whole. We need someone who addresses this political divide, and focuses on helping the people in our country.”

Jackson’s confirmation will not change the current balance on the Court, with its six conservatives and three liberals. But it is highly significant. Breyer is eighty-three, while Jackson is fifty-one. In the thirty years that she may sit on the Court, the ideological equation will undoubtedly change, and change again. The arguments and the reasoning on the Court—the voices heard there—matter even when the only vehicle of expression for justices in the minority is dissent. Regardless of the Court’s political balance, every justice has the power to make their voice heard.

Whether Ketanji Brown Jackson is heard by the people or if she brings the success to the Democrats in the midterms, is something only the future can tell. One thing is clear: CHS students are calling for different types of change on the court, and the pressure on both Biden and nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to answer that call is immense.