First Black ‘Woman’ Nominated to Supreme Court Won’t Define ‘Woman’

Ketanji Brown Jackson, circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colu
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Joel B. Pollak

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson refused to define the word “woman” in her Supreme Court confirmation hearing Tuesday, but she and Democrats repeatedly opined on the historical significance of the fact that she is the first black woman nominee.

In an exchange with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Judge Jackson refused to define the term “woman,” saying she was not a “biologist,” though the definition of gender is a key legal issue in debates over transgenderism.

Earlier, Judge Jackson had no problem talking about what her nomination meant as a “woman,” and never questioned the use of that term.

For example, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), for example, said:

Judge Jackson, if confirmed, you would become the sixth woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court.You would join Justices [Sonia] Sotomayor, [Elena] Kagan, and [Amy Coney] Barrett on the bench.This would be the nearest we have ever come to gender equity on the Supreme Court. There would be four women on a court with nine justices. … What are your thoughts on what it means for our country to have women serve in meaningful numbers on the federal bench, and in particular, what would it mean to have four women serving on the Supreme Court for the first time in history?

Jackson responded:

I think it’s extremely meaningful. … Since I was nominated to this position, I have received so many letters and photos from little girls around the country who tell me that they are so excited for this opportunity and that they thought about the law in new ways because I am a woman, because I am a black woman.

There were several similar exchanges with Democrat Senators who drew attention to the fact that Judge Jackson is a “woman.”

President Joe Biden specifically promised to nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court during the 2020 campaign.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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