After several weeks of vetting and interviewing potential candidates to fill the Supreme Court seat to be vacated upon Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement, President Biden nominated attorney and D.C. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Friday, Feb. 25. If confirmed, she would make history as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

In 2016, during the Obama Administration, Jackson was vetted and interviewed as one of five candidates to be nominated for the vacant Supreme Court seat left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

In his formal announcement, Biden said that “For too long, our government, our courts, haven’t looked like America. I believe it’s time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications, and that we inspire all young people to believe that they can one day serve their country at the highest level.” Biden added that it was his “honor to introduce to the country a daughter of former public school teachers, a proven consensus builder and an accomplished lawyer and distinguished jurist, on one of the nation’s most prestigious courts.”

Following Biden’s announcement, Jackson said, “I must begin these very brief remarks by thanking God for delivering me to this point in my professional journey. My life has been blessed beyond measure and I do know that one can only come this far by faith. Among my many blessings, and indeed the very first is the fact that I was born in this great country… The United States of America is the greatest beacon of hope and democracy the world has ever known.” Jackson credited her father for introducing her to the legal field and paid homage to the outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer, who she had served for as a law clerk from 1999 to 2000.

Touted as an experienced and successful litigator, Jackson was long-considered the frontrunner for the vacant seat, having earned degrees from Harvard University and Harvard Law School as well as holding an extensive background as an attorney and jurist. As an attorney, Jackson served in private practice, working for several law firms in the states of Texas and Massachusetts before serving as a federal public defender in Washington, D.C. where she handled cases before the D.C. Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

In June of 2021, Biden appointed Jackson to serve as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a seat that had been vacated by Merrick Garland to assume the role of U.S. Attorney General, an appointment through which she had already undergone a vetting and interviewing process with the president. Prior to her service as a judge for the D.C. U.S. Court of Appeals, Jackson was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the Vice Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and as a D.C. District Court Judge.

Her work on the Sentencing Commission helped reduce the guideline range for crack cocaine offenses and enacted the “drug minus two” amendment, implementing a two-offense level reduction for drug crimes. She is currently a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Defender Services, Council of the American Law Institute, Harvard University’s Board of Overseers, and serves on the board of Georgetown Day School and the U.S. Supreme Court Fellows Commission.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer promised a “fair, timely and expeditious” confirmation process, which is expected to take place mid-April.