Ketanji Brown Jackson

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes Waves in First Supreme Court Arguments

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in just her second day on the bench, spoke about the enactment of the Constitution's 14th Amendment

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

As the Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed a conservative attempt to weaken the landmark Voting Rights Act, enacted in 1965 to protect minority voters, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court delivered a history lesson on the divisive issue of race in the United States.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in just her second day on the bench, spoke about the enactment of the Constitution's 14th Amendment, stressing how its aim was to redress historic harms to Black people in the aftermath of the Civil War and the end of slavery.

It was a symbolic moment in a courtroom in which only three Black justices have ever sat.

Ketanji Brown Jackson made history Thursday after being sworn in as the first Black female justice on the Supreme Court.

For more on this story, go to NBC News.

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