AFP
In this handout image released by the US Supreme Court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. administers the Constitutional Oath to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, while her husband Patrick Jackson holds the Bible, in the West Conference Room at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 30, 2022.
Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in at noon on Thursday to formally become an associate justice of the US Supreme Court, making her the nation's first African American woman to serve in that role.
Chief Justice John Roberts administered the constitutional oath for Jackson while Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she clerked for, administered the judicial oath, in a ceremony before a small gathering of her family at the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill.
Jackson, in a statement, said that she will administer justice "without fear or favor."
The ceremony was streamed live on the homepage of the Supreme Court's website. A formal investiture ceremony will take place at a later date, according to the court.
It came a day after Breyer, who had served in the Supreme Court since 1994, said that he will step down from the Supreme Court bench Thursday. The 83-year-old liberal announced his retirement from the court early this year.
US President Joe Biden nominated Jackson, 51, to succeed Breyer in late February. It was one of the veteran Democrat's major promises to fill a potential Supreme Court vacancy with an African American woman.
The US Senate confirmed Jackson in a 53-47 vote in April, with three Republicans joining 50 Democrats and independents in supporting Biden's nomination of her for the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court is the final appellate court of the US judicial system, with the power to review and overturn lower court decisions, and is also generally the final interpreter of federal law, including the country's constitution.
Since the Supreme Court was established in the United States in 1789, 116 justices have been confirmed to the bench. Of them, 108 are white men and only six are women, including Jackson. The justices have life tenure and can serve until they die, resign, retire, or are impeached and removed from office.
Born in Washington, D.C. but raised in Miami, Florida, Jackson received her law degree from Harvard University and graduated cum laude in 1996. Earlier in her legal career, she worked as an assistant federal public defender in D.C. and served as vice-chair of the US Sentencing Commission for four years.
Jackson served more than eight years as a judge on the US District Court for the District of Columbia before being elevated to the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in June 2021.
Court watchers believe Jackson is expected to vote very similarly to Breyer and her ascension won't change the Supreme Court's ideological balance, in which conservatives have a 6-3 majority over liberals.