Vermont’s congressional delegation is celebrating President Joe Biden’s historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.  If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court. 

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in a Friday tweet heralded Jackson as “thoughtful, experienced, and brilliant.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in a written statement that she is a nominee with a “strong track record standing up for justice — economic justice, racial justice, social justice, political justice and environmental justice.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who oversaw hundreds of judicial nominations as the former longtime chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, touted Jackson’s “intellect and impartiality” during her tenure on federal district and circuit courts in Washington, D.C.

“The bipartisan votes with which she was confirmed to both these seats is a credit to the record she has shown since first being confirmed by the Senate — unanimously — in 2013,” Leahy said. “Her record in both the private and public sectors brings a diversity of legal experience that provides informed jurisprudence. This is the kind of nominee we should all expect to (serve on) our nation’s highest court.”

Jackson, 51, received her law degree from Harvard Law School and previously clerked for retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. She worked as a public defender before serving on the U.S. Sentencing Commission and on the D.C. federal district court. After eight years on that court, Biden elevated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last year.

Since Breyer announced his retirement in January, Vermont’s delegation has called for a swift Supreme Court confirmation process for his replacement, with little time for Democrats to waste before November’s midterms. Leahy and Sanders renewed those calls on Friday.

“Judge Jackson has already been confirmed by the Senate three times on a bi-partisan basis — twice by unanimous consent,” Sanders said. “There is no reason for her not to receive a fair and expeditious hearing in the Judiciary Committee and to be confirmed by the Senate as quickly as possible. I strongly support her nomination.”

Leahy said that Jackson’s nomination “is one that can unite the Senate in sending a signal to the American people that our courts should not and must not be partisan arms of our government.”

“The President has done his job, nominating a highly qualified, experienced judge for elevation to the Supreme Court,” he said. “The Senate must now do its job — free of politics and political vitriol — to fairly and objectively evaluate this nominee.  We have a true opportunity, after careful review, to provide our advice and consent on this historic nominee.”

Friday proved to be a historic day for judicial nominees. Gov. Phil Scott on Friday morning nominated Judge Nancy Waples to the Vermont Supreme Court. If confirmed, she would become the state’s first woman of color on the bench. 

Waples has served on the Vermont Superior Court since 2015, and would succeed former Justice Beth Robinson, who ascended to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit last year.