As the first African American woman nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court in U.S. history, Ketanji Brown Jackson’s race has been a major talking point for mainstream media members covering her journey to the highest court in the land.
CBS chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford seemingly gushed over the racial aspect of Jackson’s April 7 confirmation, claiming that the new justice could be able to influence the Supreme Court with her "life experiences as a Black woman."
Crawford also appeared to express hope that these experiences would help other justices "rethink positions or opinions that they might have had."
Jan Crawford criticizes coronavirus restrictions and their effects on children while appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation" - December 26, 2021. (Screenshot/CBS News)
Speaking to CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell during the network’s live footage of the final Senate confirmation vote, Crawford made the case by that although Brown "won’t really have an impact" in terms of the political makeup of the 6-3 majority conservative Supreme Court, she can have an impact with her lived experiences.
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"You know, she will bring those very different life experiences as a Black woman to the Supreme Court," Crawford explained.
The legal correspondent elaborated on some of those specific, unique experiences: "She’s talked about her parents, who grew up in segregation, and how she had a different path. She has different legal experience – she was a public defender, as she said – and different judicial experience – [the] bulk of her career as a federal trial court judge before she was nominated."
Supreme court building (iStock)
"All of those things will come into play just when the justices are talking about cases. She’ll bring in those experiences," she added.
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Crawford then went on about how Jackson’s unique experience could be enough to make the other justices "rethink" their positions.
"Norah, they also say ‘a new justice makes a new court.’ So, while it may not seem like her vote will make much of a difference, sometimes, when a justice gets on the court, it causes the other justices to rethink positions or opinions they might have had."
She added, "It will take years for us to see, but her impact certainly will be felt."
In this image from video from Senate Television, the Senate votes at the U.S. Capitol on the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become a Supreme Court justice Thursday, April 7, 2022 in Washington. (Senate Television via AP) (Senate Television via AP)
"Because the justices spend a great deal of time together," O’Donnell said, prompting Crawford to explain more.
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"Right, and they go in that private conference room where they sit around and discuss the cases, share their opinions. And then they go off and write their opinions or dissents and that’s where we’ll see some of this, I believe," Crawford concluded.
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