Chambana Sun

On April 7, Sen. Scott Bennett (D-Champaign) took to Facebook to congratulate the newest justice to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Congratulations to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on her confirmation to the Supreme Court! Her leadership, strength and brilliance are shining examples of qualities we need on the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. This is truly a historic moment," Bennett posted.   

Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson will replace retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, for whom she clerked from 1999 to 2000. The Center for American Progress notes that she has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate three times: to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in 2009; to the District of Columbia Circuit Court in 2013, and for her appointment to the District of Columbia District Court in 2021.

Jackson was nominated to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on Feb. 25. Her confirmation came on April 7.

According to the White House press release on her confirmation, Jackson was a public defender; she worked on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and in 2010 was confirmed as the vice-chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission; as a U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia, and as an appeals court judge for the D.C. Circuit.