Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, a leading member of the governing NPP, has chastised Piers Morgan, a British TV broadcaster, for his comments on the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, as the first Black woman on the US Supreme Court.
The US Supreme Court is to include a black female justice for the first time in its 233-year history after the Senate confirmed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the nine-member bench.
Three Republicans crossed the aisle to seal her appointment by a vote of 53 to 47.
Justice Jackson’s appointment fulfils President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to put a black woman on the court.
Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, called it a “joyous day” for the US.
The vote was overseen by Vice-President Kamala Harris, the first black woman to hold the office.
Commenting on the development on his verified Twitter timeline, Piers Morgan after congratulating the new Supreme Court Justice, wrote that people should focus on the fact that Judge Jackson got to that height in her career on merit and not because of her gender or race.
“Congrats to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on her confirmation as U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Great to see the first black woman on the Court but I’m sure she’d rather we focus on her getting there on merit – which she did – than because of her gender and/or skin colour,” Morgan tweeted.
Quoting the tweet, Gabby Otchere-Darko slammed Morgan and called on him to allow people to celebrate the achievement of Judge Jackson for the fact that she is indeed the first black woman to attain that feat.
“You try too hard sometimes to come up short. Nobody has said she got there because of gender or colour. She is more than qualified to be there. But, allow people to celebrate the fact that not many women get up there and she is the first black woman to do so,” his tweet stated.
Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, will replace Justice Stephen Breyer, a fellow liberal judge for whom she once clerked, upon his retirement in June.
The lifetime appointment will likely see Judge Jackson on the bench for decades, but will not shift the ideological balance of the current court, with its 6-3 conservative majority.
Judge Jackson has said she has a “methodology” to deciding cases but not an overarching philosophy. And she agreed with Republican senators about the importance of abiding by the text of the Constitution, as it was intended by the founders.
During her confirmation, Democrats touted her experience working as a public defender. She will be the first Supreme Court justice since Thurgood Marshall – the first black Supreme Court justice – to have career experience representing criminal defendants.
The jurist, a Washington DC native, currently sits on the influential US Court of Appeals for the DC circuit. She has two degrees from Harvard University and once served as editor of the Harvard Law Review. She worked as a public defender in Washington before joining a private practice prior to her judicial appointments.
Some Republicans took issue with clients Ms Jackson took on as a public defence lawyer – namely terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, with some accusing her of being soft on crime.
Others, however, applauded the diversity of experience her legal career would bring to the bench over the course of what was at times highly fractious and almost entirely polarised six-week confirmation process.
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of three Republicans to vote in favour of Justice Jackson said this decision rested, in part, as a “rejection of the corrosive politicisation” that has come to shape the confirmation process.
The new justice “will bring to the Supreme Court a range of experience from the courtroom that few can match given her background in litigation,” Ms Murkowski said.
The top court plays a crucial role in American public life and is often the last word on highly contentious laws and disputes between states and the federal government.
You try too hard sometimes to come up short. Nobody has said she got there because of gender or colour. She is more than qualified to be there. But, allow people to celebrate the fact that not many women get up there and she is the first black woman to do so. https://t.co/0rVAiRaywk
— Gabby Otchere-Darko (@GabbyDarko) April 7, 2022