— (Reuters) Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal appointee of President Joe Biden who will hear arguments for the first time as a justice of the United States Supreme Court on Monday, joins the nation's top court at a critical juncture when its conservative majority has demonstrated an increasing willingness to exercise its power on a range of issues.
Over the course of the following nine months, Jackson, the first Black woman on the court, and her eight new colleagues will review a number of crucial cases. These include voting rights, environmental regulation, LGBT and religious rights, the authority of federal agencies, and even a disagreement over Andy Warhol artworks. Race-conscious admissions procedures are utilized by schools and universities to promote student diversity.
According to legal professor Allison Orr Larsen of the College of William & Mary in Virginia, "there's no indication this is going to be a calm term for Justice Jackson to join" given the way the docket is developing.
Jackson joins a liberal caucus that has been reduced to making highly written dissents in the most significant cases, giving the court a 6-3 conservative majority. For instance, the conservative majority of the court pushed decisions on consecutive days in June that overturned a 1973 precedent that had legalized abortion in every state and expanded gun rights by stating that the U.S. Constitution protects the right of an individual to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.After those decisions, a Reuters/Ipsos study revealed that the majority of Americans had negative opinions of the court.
This summer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, two of Jackson's fellow liberal justices, expressed concern that the court was risking its hard-earned reputation as apolitical by appearing in public.
Professor of law Jonathan Feingold at Boston University School of Law: "I do not think those kinds of concerns will be enough to persuade five of the right-wing justices in many of these cases to not simply leverage their raw authority to get the objectives that they are aiming for.
Even though he voted to uphold the problematic Mississippi abortion legislation, Chief Justice John Roberts deviated from the other conservative justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, by opposing explicitly overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.
Jackson will take her place on the bench for the first time following her appointment by Democrat Joe Biden to replace now-retired liberal Justice Stephen Breyer when the court's new term begins on Monday. Jackson, a federal appellate judge, was confirmed by the Senate in April over strong resistance from Republicans. Jackson was described as the selection of the "extreme left" by Mitch McConnell, the leading Republican in the Senate."I make decisions in all circumstances with objectivity. In accordance with my judicial oath, I examine the facts, interpret the law, and apply it to the facts of the case before me without fear or favor "Jackson stated during her confirmation hearing in March before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Although the justice was technically sworn in on June 30, Jackson is scheduled to appear for a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony on Friday with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris expected to attend.
The first month of the new term includes arguments in cases that give the conservative justices chances to curtail the application of a significant environmental law, weaken the safeguards against racial discrimination in voting in a major civil rights law, and abolish affirmative action admissions practices used by colleges and universities to increase the number of Black and Hispanic students.
The University of North Carolina and Harvard University's rules are being contested in the affirmative action dispute. Jackson, who attended Harvard for her undergraduate and law degrees and who has sat on the Board of Overseers, withdrew from the Harvard case but plans to take part in the North Carolina case.
In certain significant cases, the liberal justices might just be dissenters, but Jackson might influence some judgments, especially if her experience is highlighted. Her experience as a trial judge and public defender in the past, which no other sitting justice has ever done, has shaped her opinion on problems relating to criminal justice. Jackson also participated in a commission that looked at the federal judiciary's sentencing policies.All of those are concerns that Justice Jackson would likely have, Larsen said.
Jackson joins the court in the midst of Roberts' probe into the May revelation of a draft of the abortion rule, which he branded a betrayal.
"That wound is not going to mend quickly. The truth is that she is entering a court that has gone through a particularly trying situation due to the leak, "Megan Wold, a former Alito legal clerk who is currently employed by Cooper & Kirk, remarked.
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