MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Members of the Shelby County Commission’s Black Caucus gathered Saturday to voice their support for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.
The group said it wants to thank President Biden for the historical nomination, where they said “when confirmed, she will become the first black woman and the first former federal public defender to serve as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.”
"As President of the National Association of Black Officials (NABCO), I encourage each black official across this country to join this historic movement by persuading each of our U.S. Senators to support and confirm Judge Jackson's nomination as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court," said Shelby County Commissioner Eddie Jones in a news release.
Speakers at Saturday’s news conference included Shelby County Commissioners Eddie Jones, Willie Brooks, Mickell Lowery, Van Turner, Edmund Ford Jr., and Reginald Milton. Lowery said Commissioner Tami Sawyer could not be there because she was traveling.
The group is encouraging everyone to reach out to their Senators and urge them to confirm Jackson in a timely manner.
“It’s beyond time that a black woman is now, would be on the Supreme Court,” said Lowery.
“The Federal Court system, from Brown vs. the Board of Education up to this point, has always been a place where the NAACP has been able to find the relief it needed to fight to fight for the civil rights and human rights of people everywhere, not just African Americans, but everyone,” said Turner, who also services a President of the Memphis branch of the NAACP. “We thank President Biden for nominating Judge Jackson to this post.”
“I just ask the process be swift, the process be fair, that the process take it’s course, and let’s go ahead and have Judge Jackson be the next Supreme Court justice,” said Ford.
“This is a unique moment for me because yesterday I was home with my mother celebrating her 102nd birthday. She was born in 1920, the year that women gained the right, earned the right to vote. She was able to live to see the first African American President, the first African American female Vice President, and now she will witness… this opportunity of seeing a Supreme Court Justice who is African American, female,” said Milton. “This is a great day for all of us. Though we take steps back from time to time, we also take steps forward. And today I can say, this country has taken a step forward.”