Ketanji Brown Jackson Becomes First Black Woman Justice on US Supreme Court

She was sworn in to the role at noon on 30 June by Chief Justice John Roberts and retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.

Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

(Photo Courtesy: whitehouse.gov)

Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in on Thursday, 30 June as the 116th US Supreme Court justice, making her the first Black woman to serve on the apex court.

The 51-year-old, who was nominated by President Biden in February, is also the second Black justice of the current court and the third in the history of the Supreme Court.

This also makes her only the sixth woman to have served on the court, where for the first time, four women will be sitting together in a panel of nine justices.

Before her appointment, she was a judge in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, often referred to as the nation's second-most powerful court.

Jackson's induction comes just days after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe vs Wade judgment, going against almost 50 years of precedent that protected abortion rights for women across the United States.

"I know that my role as a judge is a limited one – that the Constitution empowers me only to decide cases and controversies that are properly presented. And I know that my judicial role is further constrained by careful adherence to precedent," Jackson had remarked during her hearing.

Jackson was sworn in to the role on Thursday noon by Chief Justice John Roberts and retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.

(With inputs from AP and Washington Post.)