Republicans walked out of the Senate chamber on Thursday as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Several Republican senators can be seen leaving their seats and heading towards exits as applause erupted in the chamber after the Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Jackson to the Supreme Court making her the first Black female justice.
Jackson’s confirmation hearings were a grueling process, with the US appeals court judge at times being subjected to questioning and accusations by Republicans that legal experts have denounced as unfair and misleading.
Judge Jackson, whose parents attended segregated schools, has two degrees from Harvard University and, at 51, will replace Justice Stephen G. Breyer when he retires at the end of the court’s session this summer. She joined President Biden at the White House to watch the vote, embracing as it came in. The two are expected to speak, along with Kamala Harris, at the White House Friday.
“Even in the darkest times, there are bright lights,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said on the Senate floor. “Today is one of the brightest lights. Let us hope it’s a metaphor, an indication of many bright lights to come.”
He added, “How many millions of kids in generations past could have benefited from such a role model?”
