Ketanji Brown Jackson, Historic Supreme Court Appointee

Of the 115 justices who’ve served on the bench prior to Ketanji Brown Jackson, 108 have been White men. Her historic appointment to replace Associate Justice Stephen Breyer followed an explosive and sometimes emotional confirmation hearing. Jackson was grilled on her record on crime, especially her sentencing in child pornography cases (Senate Republicans said she was too lenient, though experts said she was in line with norms) and divisive issues such as race, gender identity and abortion. Ultimately, three Republicans—Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney—joined the full Democratic caucus to confirm Jackson, 53-47, maintaining a 6-3 conservative majority.

Jackson, a mother of two girls, said during her hearing that she got “so many notes and letters and photos from little girls” who were inspired by her nomination. “We want, I think, as a country, for everyone to believe that they can do things like sit on the Supreme Court, and so having meaningful numbers of women and people of color I think matters.”